US ambassador lashes out at Belgian minister and speaks of ‘anti-Semitism’
In a post on X, the US ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, strongly criticises the “very rude” Belgian minister of health Frank Vandenbroucke. In the post, White talks about anti-Semitism and the “anti-Semitic prosecution” of three mohels, Jewish ritual circumcisers.
The case White refers to appears to concern the raids carried out by the Antwerp police at the homes of three mohels in May last year and the accompanying investigation by the Antwerp public prosecutor's office. The Antwerp public prosecutor's office announced that the investigation was focusing on medical procedures and circumcisions performed without the intervention of a doctor.
In his message, White calls for the possible prosecution of three mohels to be stopped. According to White, these ritual circumcisers are doing something “for which they have been trained for thousands of years”.
The ambassador then directs his criticism directly at minister of health Frank Vandenbroucke of Vooruit, the Flemish socialist party. White calls on him to intervene. According to the ambassador, Belgium must “legally guarantee the religious freedoms of Jewish families”.
He calls on Vandenbroucke “not to wait for this case to end”. According to White, this would be Vandenbroucke's “sneaky tactic” - something that would have come up during an earlier meeting. A meeting at which Vandenbroucke – all according to White – refused to shake hands and have his photo taken with him.
“It was clear that you dislike America, the country that fought and where tens of thousands of our nation's sons died for the freedom of Belgium twice, in WWI & in WWII,” stated the ambassador.
Finally, the ambassador announced that he will travel to Antwerp next week to meet with the mohels involved and their families. He called on minister Vandenbroucke and Vooruit leader Conner Rousseau to accompany him. He then repeated that he found it “disgusting” what had happened to the men and families involved due to Vandenbroucke's “inaction”.
US ambassador to Belgium Bill White © BELGA PHOTO KURT DESPLENTER
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