SWEDEN (JTA) — A Swedish political party has voted to change its official stance in favor of banning circumcision.
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The Swedish Center Party voted 314-166 at its annual meeting to work to fight the nonmedical circumcision of boys. Party chief Annie Loof was among the party leaders who criticized the vote.
The Center Party received approximately 8 percent of the votes in last year’s national election, earning 31 seats in the 349-seat parliament. It broke with its center-right alliance earlier this year and now backs the left-wing ruling coalition, though it’s not officially part of the bloc.
The vote Saturday drew fierce debate in the country between advocates, who say circumcision infringes on children’s rights, and critics, who say a ban would threaten the country’s Jewish and Muslim populations.
“A ban on circumcision would make Jewish life in Sweden impossible,” Aron Verständig, chairman of The Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, said Sunday in a statement.
According to Swedish law, circumcision can be performed only by medical practitioners or those licensed by the country’s Health and Welfare Board.
Sweden’s Jewish community numbers about 20,000 and has faced a range of challenges in recent years — from the rise of anti-Semitism that at times has turned violent to policy proposals that community members say make their lives difficult or impossible.
There have been attempts to ban circumcision and the import of kosher meat, citing children’s and animal’s rights. A 1988 law banned the slaughter of animals without stunning, which makes kosher slaughter impossible.
As parties go left they become more anti Jewish just like the dems here are becoming increasingly anti Jewish.
Idiot MRA activists.
Greta will push the ban before the UN
I wonder what the opinion is in this matter of Trump’s friends
At one time, Sweden was very friendly towards Jews. For example, immediately Rosh Hashanah, in 1943, nearly the entire Jewish community of Denmark was rescued by the Danes, and they were secretly taken to Malmo, Sweden, in fishing boats. After World War Two ended, many Jewish survivors were taken in by the Swedes, who helped in their recovery. It is too bad that Sweden and other European countries, are no longer safe for Jews.