Criminal charges for bodily harm have been filed against a rabbi in Germany for carrying out circumcisions. Rabbi David Goldberg, who is a mohel in the 400-strong Jewish community of Hof in Bayern, has been charged according to a July ruling by a court in Cologne banning circumcision on religious grounds. The ban was introduced after a four year old Muslim boy was returned to hospital with bleeding following circumcision. The news of charges against the rabbi, brought by a doctor in Hessen, has caused outrage and shock among Jewish groups in Germany and internationally. The vice President of the World Jewish Congress has said there was an urgent need to create legal certainty over the matter.
The news came on the day that Israel's chief...