Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, has called on Norwegian authorities to take action against Dagbladet, a Norwegian paper that published an anti-circumcision cartoon earlier this week.
According to this report, he described the cartoon, which equates Jewish and Muslim supporters of non-medical circumcision with paedophiles, as “hate speech”.
The cartoon shows a Muslim and a Jew with signs saying “yes to circumcision” and “religious freedom”. A third man wearing a tattered raincoat tells them:
I know what you mean. I, too, get told by invisible men to mess around with boys’ penises.
Goldschmidt said:
This cartoon is a blatant attack on religious freedom and is deeply offensive to all religious communities. This publication has a track record of disrespecting religion and as the editor has shown that he has neither restraint nor responsibility, I urge the relevant authorities to act.
In 2013 Dagbladet was criticised in Norway and beyond for publishing a caricature about circumcision that the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Copper, said was:
So virulently anti-Semitic it would make Hitler and Himmler weep tears of joy.
Many European secularists regard circumcision on minors, which is performed by Muslims and Jews, as a cruel violation of children’s rights. A similar debate is occurring across Europe and in the continent’s north about the issue of ritual slaughter of animals, which devout Jews and Muslims require be performed on conscious animals.
In addition to left-wing initiatives to ban non-medical circumcision of boys and ritual slaughter, Europe and northern Europe especially have seen similar efforts by center-right and far-right populists. Proponents often appeal to children’s rights and animal welfare, although some appear to be specifically targeting Muslim or Jews.
Several parties in Norway, where ritual slaughter has been prohibited since 1929, support banning non-medical circumcision of boys.
In 2014, the Norwegian government introduced legislation that regulated non-medical circumcision of boys. It stipulates that the procedure must be performed under the supervision and in the presence of a licensed physician, but it may be physically carried out by other persons.
Meanwhile, it’s reported from Scotland that comedian Markus Meechan (AKA Count Dankula) is to go on trial on Monday for uploading a video to YouTube showing him teaching a Pug to be “a Nazi”.
Meechan pictured in the custody of a Scottish plod. Inset is Buddha, his girlfriend’s ‘Nazi’ dog.
If found guilty if the “hate crime” crime he could be jailed for up to a year.
A month after Meechan posted the 2016 video, police arrived at his door and threw him in jail for the night.
Meechan could become the first Scottish comedian to be jailed for a joke. He said:
I think everything can and should be joked about. I’m still trying to find the humour in it, laughter just makes it easier to deal with.
Meechan said he fears the judge will try to make an example of him because of the amount of attention the case drew from the British press. His trial will have no jury and his sentencing is entirely up to the judge’s discretion.
I’ve seen this happen before when people get dragged through the media. The judge says ‘let’s completely fuck up this one person’s life so no one does it again’.
The group leading the charge against Meechan is the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities. At the time of his arrest in 2016 the group called the video “outrageous” and dismissed the idea it could possibly be taken as a joke.
But in a recent video, Meechan explained that many Jewish fans from outside Scotland had reached out to him and asked to write letters vouching that Meechan is not an anti-Semite.
SkepTorr is a Jewish Israeli YouTuber and friend of Meechan and found the police response to the Nazi pug video ridiculous.
No one in his sane mind would watch his material on YouTube and come to the conclusion that he committed a hate crime. [Many Israelis and Jews] do not like false flagging. It makes us look really bad and just creates resentment towards us.
Hat tip: Antony Niall (Meechan report)