Just days before the Council of Europe is scheduled to hold hearings on a controversial motion supporting banning bris milah across the continent, a ten-person delegation of Muslim and Jewish clerics met with the organization’s Secretary-General, Thorborn Jagland.
The meeting was the first time that Muslim leaders had joined alongside Jewish clerics in lobbying in opposition to the ban and was an initiative of the Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders (GEMJL), an affiliate of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU), which represents imams and rabbis in 25 European countries.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, President of the FFEU, called for the meeting with the Secretary-General to demonstrate the joint concern of Muslim and Jewish leaders throughout Europe. “We thank the Secretary General for his solidarity with the Muslim and Jewish communities.”
Rabbi Schneier asked the Secretary General to use his office to seek the appointment of a more tolerant and sensitive Chair for the Parliamentary Commission of the Council of Europe responsible for this issue. The Chair, Lilliane Pasquier, who has been responsible for proposing resolutions in support of the ban, will be stepping down next week.
Acknowledging that he has received criticism for past public comments expressing opposition to any ban, Mr. Jagland nevertheless assured the delegation that the Council’s response to the issue regardless of the results of further review would be in solidarity with the interests of the religious communities saying, “nothing in the final response of the Council will go in the direction of banning circumcision or equating male and female circumcision.”
“The passion on this issue highlights a very important state for Europe whereby starting to limit the rights of minorities is a very dangerous avenue to pursue,” he said. “Europe has always been a continent of Europe and whenever we have limited their rights it has always led to catastrophe.
In the meeting, the clerics, representing communities across Europe, expressed their concerns that the ongoing debates over ban had the potential to become an escalating problem. Rabbi Michel Serfaty, a leading French rabbi and president of the Paris-based Muslim-Jewish Friendship League said, “This limiting of religious rights is something that may starts with Jews and Muslims and eventually it will affect everyone with sincere religious beliefs.”
Seniad Koblicia, the Chief Imam of Norway in attendance for the meeting said,” Efforts to ban circumcision will hurt our mutual mission to create a continent that thrives on dialogue so it is critical that we stand together if someone threatens our hope for peace and coexistence.”
The Secretary-General concluded the meeting said that “I know that circumcision of males is not only a part of your tradition but part of your life and addressing this issue goes to the very heart of how we will live together on this continent.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
“Interfaith” implies the presence of Christians. A Jewish-Muslim friendship group isn’t since a big deal since except for the real estate dispute in the middle east, we geneally see eye-to-eye with Muslims on most issues, and the laws being debated by the Europeans (both on circumcision, slaughtering animals, religious clothing and banning modest clothing) are aimed at both Jews and Muslims.
A big variable is whether the religious Christians will supports us (making this a “People of faith” vs Secularist) battle, or whether the Christians will refrain from getting involved which would suggest they haven’t really changed from their historic anti-semitism. It should be noted that the Catholic Church seems to be supportive, as do American Protestants – but that the Catholic Church has lost most of its influence politically, and European Protestants are very different from Americans.