![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2249109091-scaled-e1771255044106.avif\")
<\/a><\/p>\nUS ambassador to Belgium Bill White pictured during a visit to the Barco technology firm, Dec. 3, 2025 in Kortrijk. (Kurt Desplenter \/ Belga \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Bill White made the demand, an unusual intervention into another country\u2019s domestic affairs, in a post on X on Monday directed toward Belgium\u2019s minister of health.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the (very rude) Belgian Minister of Health FRANK VANENBROUCKE; You must make a legal provision to allow Jewish religious MOHELS to perform their duties here in Belgium. It\u2019s done in all civilized counties as legal procedure,\u201d White tweeted. \u201cBELGIUM is a civilized country. Stop this unacceptable harassment of the Jewish community here in Antwerp and in Belgium. It\u2019s 2026, you need to get into the 21st century and allow our brethren Jewish families in Belgium to legally execute their religious freedoms!\u201d<\/p>\n
White is a longtime advocate for veterans who became a Republican after Donald Trump was first elected president in 2016. He was confirmed as the ambassador to Belgium last fall despite criticism that he had amplified social media posts by Dries Van Langenhove, a far-right Belgian political activist had recently been sentenced to prison after being convicted of racism and Holocaust denial.<\/p>\n
White\u2019s post comes nearly a year after Belgian authorities raided multiple sites, including two in Antwerp\u2019s Jewish Quarter, at the outset of an investigation into illegal circumcisions.<\/p>\n
In Belgium, the law requires all circumcisions to be performed by licensed medical professionals. The country has a track record of limiting religious exemptions in laws: In 2024, Europe\u2019s top court upheld a ban in most of the country against kosher slaughter, which its critics contend is inhumane to animals.<\/p>\n
Belgian media reported that the Antwerp raids stemmed from a complaint made by a member of the Jewish community. In 2024, Moshe Friedman, a local rabbi, filed a police complaint against six mohels who practice metzitzah b\u2019peh, a custom in which the circumciser cleans the circumcision wound with oral suction.<\/p>\n
The custom, which can risk infecting infants with dangerous diseases, is practiced only in haredi Orthodox communities such as the substantial one in Antwerp. Several years ago, a number of babies in New York City were infected with herpes via metzitzah b\u2019peh.<\/p>\n
White\u2019s X post, which he said was on behalf of Trump and a slew of administration officials, said three mohels were facing \u201cRIDICULOUS AND ANTI SEMITIC \u2018PROSECUTION,’\u201d which he said must be dropped immediately to preserve the U.S.-Belgian relationship.<\/p>\n
White alleged that Vanenbroucke had told him that he intended to avoid intervening in the case, calling it a \u201csneaky tactic.\u201d Vanenbroucke and other Belgian officials did not immediately respond publicly to White\u2019s post.<\/p>\n
White said he would be traveling to Antwerp to meet with the mohels next week. \u201cFrank you and Conner Rousseau should come with me!\u201d White tweeted, referring to a Flemish politician with no public connection to the investigation. \u201cIt\u2019s disgusting what\u2019s happened to these fine men and their families because of your inaction. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter!\u201d<\/p>\n
The mohel raids in Antwerp follow the arrest in 2024 in Ireland of a British rabbi suspected of performing circumcisions illegally. There, the law requiring a medical license to perform circumcisions includes an exemption for circumcisions performed for religious reasons \u2014 but the rabbi was alleged to have circumcised babies who were not Jewish. The prosecution in that case is reportedly ongoing.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration says it aims to defend religious freedom around the world, and its ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has called attention to what he alleges is poor treatment of Christians there. Meanwhile, a Catholic member of Trump\u2019s new domestic Religious Liberty Commission was removed last week after using a public hearing to attack Israel and press the case that opposition to Israel is not antisemitic.<\/p>\n