Belgium’s government summoned U.S. Ambassador Bill White for consultations on Tuesday after he accused the country of antisemitism, intervening in a case involving three Jewish religious figures suspected of carrying out traditional circumcisions without the medical training required in the country.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot called the American diplomat’s allegations “dangerous disinformation” and demanded that White respect Belgian institutions and the independence of the country’s courts, and added that personal attacks and interference broke diplomatic norms.
Belgian public broadcaster VRT reported that authorities were investigating three men in the city of Antwerp accused of performing circumcisions without medical training. Local authorities conducted searches of the three men’s homes in May, according to a statement from the Antwerp Police.
White, in a social media post on Monday, labelled the investigation antisemitic harassment and called on the country’s health minister to immediately “make a legal provision to allow Jewish religious MOHELS to perform their duties here in Belgium.”
Marius Burgelman/BELGA MAG/Belga/AFP/Getty
A mohel is a Jewish religious official who performs traditional circumcisions, often without any formal medical training. The practice is not banned anywhere in the U.S., though some higher-risk aspects of the tradition have caused controversy in areas with large Orthodox Jewish communities.
“It’s done in all civilized counties [sic] as legal procedure. BELGIUM is a civilized country. Stop this unacceptable harassment of the Jewish community here in Antwerp and in Belgium,” White said in his post on X. “It’s 2026, you need to get into the 21st century and allow our brethren Jewish families in Belgium to legally execute their religious freedoms!”
“Any suggestion that Belgium is antisemitic is false, offensive, and unacceptable. Belgium condemns antisemitism with the greatest firmness. The fight against antisemitism, and all forms of hatred and discrimination, is an absolute priority for our country,” Prévot said in her own post on X. “Labeling Belgium as antisemitic is not just wrong, it’s dangerous disinformation that undermines the real fight against hatred.”
White shot back with another post, responding to Prévot that, “it’s not ok to simply say we ‘follow the law’ and ‘we are not antisemitic’. Both of those things can’t be true in this case.”
White said he would visit the three accused men in Antwerp, and he asked Belgium’s minister of health to join him.
Prévot said Belgian law “permits ritual circumcision when performed by a qualified physician under strict health and safety standards,” adding that he would not comment on an ongoing investigation.
