The man who initiated the criminal trial of Jewish mohels (men who perform ritual circumcisions) in Antwerp did not represent mainstream Jewish organizations, which have shunned him for his provocations and extremist views on Israel, according to a statement released by U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White on Monday.
The unusual 800-word statement concerned Moshe Aryeh Friedman, an anti-Zionist activist who has lobbied authorities to limit several Jewish customs, including brit mila, religious circumcision. “He represents no one. He has no mandate from the Belgian Jewish community,” wrote White.
Friedman initiated the ongoing prosecution of three mohels in Belgium. The case has sparked a diplomatic dispute involving the United States, Israel and Belgium.
In May, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot defended the prosecution from criticism on X by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, White, and U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, by saying the case was initiated “by representatives of the Jewish community themselves,” referencing Friedman.
White’s statement rejected this, and quoted Kaploun as calling Friedman a “self-hating Jew who hates America, denies the Holocaust, and shows solidarity with Iran.” White said about Friedman in the statement: “My strong recommendation is to send him packing. At a minimum, he must now be discredited and treated as the fraud he is.”
Friedman, who describes himself as a rabbi, is not recognized by Belgium’s mainstream Jewish community, which says he holds no official religious position or mandate to represent Belgian Jews. He initiated the legal proceedings against the mohels by filing a complaint alleging illegal medical practice.
In 2012, Friedman had enrolled his boys in a Haredi girls-only school in Antwerp to challenge an arrangement that enables Haredi schools to separate girls and boys at state-recognized Jewish schools.
Friedman has rejected allegations that he has denied the Holocaust. He attended an Iranian foreign ministry two-day conference in 2006 titled “Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision.” It featured Holocaust denial and distortion.
“This rogue and dangerous fraudster gained international notoriety through his participation in” the event, White wrote, “where he was photographed hugging then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”
White urged media organizations, politicians, and public authorities to describe Friedman “accurately: not as a representative of the Jewish community, not as an authoritative rabbinical spokesperson, but as an individual activist who speaks solely on his own behalf. There is not a single Jew in this entire beautiful Kingdom of Belgium who has signed onto his complaint—not one,” White added.
The Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE), one of Europe’s leading rabbinical organizations representing more than 800 rabbis and Jewish communities across the continent, issued what it called a clarification about Friedman, following White’s statement.
“The RCE states that Mr. Friedman is not a member of the organization, holds no position within it, and is not recognized by the Centre as a rabbi or as a representative of the RCE or any of its affiliated communities or institutions,” RCE wrote.
