San Francisco Circumcision Ban Campaign is Anti-Semitic: ADL

The unprecedented San Francisco circumcision ban campaign, which will culminate in a referendum in November, is anti-Semitic, stated the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish voices.

Jews have been practicing circumcision on their male newborns for thousands of years. It's also not just a cultural practice; it's a religious ceremony that goes back to Abraham, the founder of the Jewish race.

Male circumcision is practiced worldwide by both Jews and Muslims for religious reasons. In the US, though, Jews are the main target of anti-circumcision campaigns.

Nancy Appel, ADL Associate Director in San Francisco, has filed a lawsuit against the referendum. She said the very attempt of San Francisco banning circumcision offends the notions of parental rights and freedom of religion.

She said it's an assault on [Jewish] values and traditions going back thousands of years and centered in the Hebrew Bible.

Appel is particularly troubled by the Foreskin Man comic book produced by Matthew Hess, an anti-circumcision campaigner, which depicts Orthodox Jewish-looking Mohels as rapacious, bloodthirsty and bent on harming children.

Thomas Elias, a California columnist, had the following to say:

Not even Adolf Hitler or the Spanish monarchs and priests who conducted the Inquisition attempted to ban circumcision, which Jews regard as a key mark of their relationship with God, ordained in Genesis:17:10, which specifies that Every man child among you shall be circumcised...and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.