Two veteran mohels in Antwerp are facing possible prosecution over circumcisions performed without authorization on 98 babies between December 2023 and March 2025. The public prosecutor wants to charge them with assault, harming minors, and illegal medical practice, after an earlier child-assault allegation was dropped for lack of evidence.
The men are identified as Rabbi Aaron Eckstein, 76, and Rabbi David Moshe Landau, 47, both well-known mohels in Jewish communities across Europe. The case began after a former member of Antwerp’s Indian community informed authorities that the circumcisions were being carried out in violation of health law, prompting the mohels to be asked for explanations.
The investigation opened in October 2024. Police and investigators tapped their phones, reviewed their emails and bank accounts, and carried out several searches within the Jewish community. The mohels declined to answer questions about the circumcisions and instead submitted identical written statements saying circumcision is an ancient religious and cultural practice worldwide and cannot be considered a medical act.
The matter has now returned to the investigating judge, who must decide whether the informant’s renewed requests for more investigation are relevant. The informant says there is additional evidence and wants several people questioned, including those he claims coordinate circumcisions in the Jewish community. The final decision on whether to send the case to trial has been postponed indefinitely while his petition is examined. The mohels have also filed a petition challenging the complaints against them as false. The case has caused a stir in Antwerp and revived long-running European tensions over circumcision.
