A regional court in the west German city of Cologne has issued a decision identifying circumcision as a form of bodily harm, according to the German-language edition of the Financial Times on June 25.

The case involved a doctor accused of carrying out a circumcision on a 4-year-old that led to medical complications. The doctor was acquitted and no appeal is planned.

This legal decision criminalizes circumcisions performed by Jews and Muslims in that district. Thousands of very young boys are circumcised in Germany each year, mostly for religious reasons.

“A child’s body is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision,” German media outlets quoted the ruling as saying. “This change contravenes the interests of the child to decide later about his religious affiliation.”

“The religious freedom of the parents and their right to educate their child would not be unacceptably compromised, if they were obliged to wait until the child could himself decide to be circumcised,” it said, as reported by cns News.

The German Central Council of Jews responded to the decision quickly with charged emotion. Head of the Central Council, Dieter Graumann, said the court had issued an “unprecedented and dramatic interference in the self-determination right of religious communities,” reported The Jerusalem Post. He also stated that the decision was an “inappropriate and insensitive act.”

Graumann said that “the circumcision of newborn Jews has been practiced for thousands of years” and “every country in the world respects this religious right.”

USA Today reported that Graumann urged the country’s parliament to clarify the legal situation “to protect religious freedom against attacks.”

Prof. Fred Ehrlich of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales told cns News, “There is no way of persuading politically correct modern liberal thinkers of the role of Jewish values, but they missed the latest statistical research data.”

Studies consistently find circumcision vastly reduces the risk of contracting hiv-aids among heterosexual men, lowers rates of infection from the virus that causes cervical cancer, and also lowers the risk of developing prostate and penile cancer. Additionally, it drastically reduces urinary infections in infants and children.

“There is no doubt about the benefit of circumcision,” said Ehrlich.

If a court can outlaw Judaism, what can’t it do? The number one question one must ask is, has Germany forgotten its history from the 1930s and ’40s? Interference in Jewish religious traditions and ceremonies then led to the death of millions.

The life-threatened, problem-burdened tiny nation of Israel is looking to Germany to help establish peace in the Middle East. Yet this legal ruling on circumcision is another red flag showing the anti-Semitism simmering underneath the surface in Germany. Remember, this nation has a history of double-crossing its allies—and Bible prophecy says it is going to do it again.

Be sure to read theTrumpet.com article “Can Israel Trust Germany?” Also write for a free copy of the booklet Hosea—Reaping the Whirlwind.