Monday, October 22, 2012

ISRAEL: Why is circumcision allowed when corporal punishment banned?

Haaretz
October 12, 2012

An end to the agony


By Victor Schonfeld
It is an amputation of a healthy, sensitive body part that is performed without specific medical need, and without the patient's consent.

Germany's parliament may soon approve a law to protect religious circumcision, this to counteract a Cologne court ruling last June that pronounced the practice unlawful.

This is wrong - the German government should rethink. I say this as a Jewish parent from a proud rabbinic lineage, with relatives killed in the Holocaust; I say this as the maker of "It's a Boy!" the 1995 British TV documentary
...


The film triggered a furor in Britain by chronicling the near-death of a baby circumcised by a mohel, ...

...

I recall the TV documentary I made against corporal punishment of children, and how I applauded countries like Israel and Germany, which were among the first to outlaw such punishment. It appears to me wholly contradictory that those countries protect a tradition that routinely inflicts greater suffering and harm. ...

...

Ironically, there was a time in Germany, long before the Nazi era, when some rabbinic leaders advocated abandoning circumcision; ... In a letter I've sent Chancellor Angela Merkel my message is simple: Please don't undo the opportunity for change created by your courageous Cologne judge. ...

Filmmaker Victor Schonfeld's documentaries include "Loving Smacks," "Shattered Dreams: Picking Up the Pieces" and "The Animals Film." "It's a Boy!" is available from www.itsaboythefilm.com

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