Rabbinical court forcing divorcee mother to circumcise her child while Israel campaigns against resolution by the Council of Europe

And while Jewish groups launch a pro-circumcision task force, and MKs plan to travel through Europe in the coming weeks to battle anti-circumcision legislation to convince Europe that circumcision of underage boys without medical necessity is not a violation of physical integrity, as recently indicated in a resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a rabbinical court in Netanya, 20 miles north from Tel Aviv, is forcing a divorcee mother to facilitate the circumcision of her child (against her consent) as a demand of the ex-husband.

The mother argued that the authority to decide on this matter belongs exclusively in family court. But the rabbinical judges, Rabbis Michael Amos, Sheur Pardes and Ariel Yanai, rejected the woman’s argument and determined that when a couple is in a dispute over the treatment of their son, the dispute may be resolve either in family or in rabbinical court.

The mother’s request was rejected and the court ordered her to have the circumcision be performed within seven days, or suffer a financial penalty.

As long as religious courts are entitled to overrule a mother's consent and force a child to undergo an unwanted and unneeded removal of part of his genitals, the task force and MKs are going to have a very difficult time convincing anyone that circumcision of underage boys is anything other than a violation of the physical integrity of the child.

She argued that the authority to decide on this matter belongs exclusively in family court. But the rabbinical judges, Rabbis Michael Amos, Sheur Pardes and Ariel Yanai, rejected the woman’s argument and determined that when a couple is in a dispute over the treatment of their son, the dispute may be resolve either in family or in rabbinical court.

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/israeli-rabbinical-court-forcing-divorcee-to-circumcise-son/2013/11/07/