Lawmakers in Iceland submitted legislation on Tuesday that would prohibit male circumcision and make it a crime punishable by up to six years in prison, despite circumcision being a religious imperative in Judaism and Islam.
By introducing the bill, Iceland may have set a dangerous precedent that limits Jewish religious observance, even while Europe is seeing a worrying rise in anti-Semitic attacks.
The bill, which bans "removing sexual organs, in whole or in part," was introduced in Iceland one day after an 8-year-old boy wearing a kippah was attacked in France.
The bill describes circumcision as a "violation" of children's rights that must be categorically banned unless medically justified. Female genital mutilation, sometimes called female circumcision, has been illegal in Iceland since 2005.
Eight members of the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, proposed the bill, which received support in both the coalition and opposition. According to the bill, "Children's rights must always take precedence over the right of parents to raise their children according to religious laws."
Under the proposed legislation, men who may wish to be circumcised would be allowed to do so once they reach maturity, but the precise age of maturity was not specified.
Meanwhile, the attack on an 8-year-old Jewish boy in a Paris suburb this week sent shockwaves through the local Jewish community. Meyer Habib, a French politician who represents French citizens living in Israel as a member of the eighth constituency for French residents overseas in the French National Assembly, told Israel Hayom on Thursday that the trend of hostility toward Jews has been worsening. He stressed that part of the problem is local authorities' inability to confront the issue.
"Anti-Semitism in France is getting worse," Habib said.
"It starts with an attack on an 8-year-old boy who wears a kippah, but it will end in murder, like in Toulouse [where four people at a Jewish school were murdered in 2012] or like the case of Sarah Halimi of blessed memory, who was thrown out of a window.
"The president [Israeli President Reuven Rivlin] and the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] have responded with strong words to these incidents, but words need to be backed up with actions and sadly, we are not seeing that yet," Habib said.
"Remember the demonstrations during Operation Protective Edge [the 2014 war in Gaza]? They started with pro-Palestinian slogans and ended with chants of 'Death to the Jews' and attacks on synagogues in the heart of France."
Habib said the ongoing efforts of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel represent fertile ground for anti-Semitic attacks in France.
"Unfortunately, the administration is unable to see and admit this," he said.
French President Emanuel Macron strongly condemned the attack earlier this week, tweeting that "every time a citizen is attacked because of his age, appearance or faith, it's the entire republic that is attacked."
"And it's the entire republic that stands today alongside the French of Jewish faith to fight with them and for them against these despicable acts," Macron wrote.
