The wrangle over the religious right to circumcise infants and young boys is growing louder in Germany.

The legal furor over circumcision began in November 2010 when a Muslim doctor circumcised a 4-year-old boy at the request of his parents. The boy developed complications from the procedure and was hospitalized. It was the boy’s hospitalization that drew the attention of German police and legal authorities.

Considering Germany’s constitutional protection of every person’s bodily integrity, prosecutors in the west German city of Cologne brought suit against the doctor.

After a long legal battle, in May this year the Cologne regional court issued a decision that circumcision of underage boys for religious reasons was a form of bodily harm and subject to criminal penalties—even if the parents agreed to it.

Although the doctor was acquitted of criminal charges, the Cologne ruling has sparked intense debate in the Jewish and Muslim communities living in Germany. Here is why.

The BBC News Magazine reported in July that the Cologne court also stated, “The child’s body is permanently and irreparably changed by the circumcision. This change conflicts with the child’s interest of later being able to make his own decision on his religious affiliation.”

In reality, the Cologne regional court reached far beyond the scope of protecting bodily integrity and made a clear statement dictating limits on religious practice. The only two religious groups affected by this ruling are Muslims and Jews. Considering Germany’s Nazi past, many see this legal decision as treacherously insensitive to the six million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust.

Currently, about 120,000 Jews and four million Muslims (mostly from Turkey) live in Germany. Cologne’s ban on circumcision has caused outrage among both Jews and Muslims in the country. The controversy has also drawn the attention of Jews and Muslims around the world.

Although the ban only applies in Cologne, the ruling has caused much legal confusion throughout Germany, even within the medical community. Dr. Frank Montgomery, the president of the German Medical Association, told the bbc, “It leaves doctors in a legal quagmire. We are convinced that circumcision is best performed under medical conditions by physicians in a hospital.” Doctors throughout Germany are refusing to perform circumcisions for fear of being taken to court. The Jewish Hospital in Berlin, which has been performing circumcisions for both Muslims and Jews, has stopped performing that service.

Even though the Cologne case involves a Muslim family and their doctor of the same faith, the problem is a much bigger concern for Jews in Germany. As dictated by the Holy Bible, Jewish boys must be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. Muslims can wait much longer.

Many view the current ban on circumcision as the most serious attack on Jewish life in Europe since the Holocaust. The Economist also reported in July that Dieter Graumann, president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, stated that the verdict, if upheld, “would make Jewish life in Germany, just as it is blooming again, practically impossible.”

The Jewish outrage over the Cologne ruling was immediate and has remained heated.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, worked hard to quell the fervor. He said the Jewish and Muslim communities would be free to carry out the rite of circumcision despite the Cologne ban. RT News reported that Siebert said, “It is well known that in the Jewish religion early circumcision carries great meaning, so it is a matter of urgency that this right be restored.” He assured the Jewish community that Merkel’s own office would be involved in the efforts to solve the problem.

Germany’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution on July 19 to protect the religious circumcision of infant boys in response to the Cologne ruling. Globalpost.com reported that the resolution was jointly filed by Merkel’s conservatives, their liberal coalition ally the Free Democratic Party, and the opposition Social Democrats. The resolution demanded that “the government present a draft law in the autumn … that guarantees that the circumcision of boys, carried out with medical expertise and without unnecessary pain, is permitted.” The small Left Party opposed the resolution, suggesting that infant boys undergo a “symbolic circumcision” and then undergo the actual circumcision when older.

The new law would overrule the Cologne court decision. But however positive the resolution may seem on the surface, it has no teeth to stop what the Cologne ban started.

In August, Haaretz.com reported that Rabbi David Goldberg is facing criminal charges for performing a circumcision in Hof, a small town in Bavaria. A German psychologist filed a criminal complaint against him based on the Cologne ruling. Rabbi Goldberg is specially trained to perform a circumcision on infant Jewish boys. According to Jewish traditions he is known as a “mohel.” He has performed over 4,000 successful circumcisions.

Rabbi Goldberg’s situation has only fueled Jewish concerns.

jta reported that in early September the Berlin Justice Ministry affirmed the legality of circumcisions but placed limitations on who could carry them out. The ministry said that only doctors, and not mohels, could perform circumcisions. The ruling also requires parents to identify their religion and request a medical practitioner. The Jewish Chronicle Online reported that the Jewish community in Berlin rejected the decision as “a flagrant intervention in the over-3,000-year tradition of Judaism.”

Associated Press reported that on September 3, an Israeli parliamentary committee denounced the circumcision ban in Germany, stating that “the decision infringes upon religious freedom and evokes memories of the worst chapter in German history, the Holocaust.”

Reaction to the Berlin ruling caused hundreds of German Jews and Muslims to hold a joint rally in Berlin on September 9. The crowd demanded that their freedom of religion be respected.

Reuters reported that about 300 Jews, Muslims and their supporters gathered together at Berlin’s Bebelplatz square, the site of the infamous Nazi book burning ceremony.

“[T]here must be a law securing the right to circumcision” by a mohel, or ritual circumciser, Lala Suesskind, former leader of Berlin’s Jewish community, said. “The Berlin ruling, which would require parents to identify their religion and request a medical practitioner, was unacceptable. In Germany, … a Jew should not have to identify his or her religion to the authorities.”

Reuters also reported that Angela Merkel said Germany risked becoming a “laughing stock” if Jews are not allowed to practice their rituals.

In a move to restore a state of calm on the issue in Israel, the German ambassador to Israel, Andreas Michaelis, published an article in the Jerusalem Post on September 11. He stated to the nation that the Cologne ban on circumcision “sparked a vivid debate in Germany, as well as here in Israel.” And although the discussion had generated “a considerable amount of confusion and misinterpretation regarding the legal status of circumcision in Germany,” he attempted to reassure the nation by asking and answering two important questions. He wrote: “Has Germany banned circumcision, as some commentators claim? Is religious circumcision now considered a crime under German law? None of the above is the short answer.”

He confirmed that the Cologne ruling has no binding force and it does not require other German courts to rule in the same way. He also reaffirmed that the current government wanted Jewish life to continue to flourish in Germany “without legal uncertainty.”

He asked the nation, “While the government is working toward finding a comprehensive solution on the question of circumcision in our country, it seems advisable to lead the surrounding debate in a calm and fair manner.”

It is interesting to note that a poll conducted in Germany in July showed that nearly half of Germans support a ban on the religious circumcision of boys. The YouGov survey revealed that 45 percent wanted to end the Islamic and Jewish tradition. About 42 percent of Germans were against the ban and 13 percent had no opinion.

It is expedient that the Jewish communities remain concerned over the legal controversy over circumcision in Germany. History shows us that the Nazi tyranny waged against the Jews during World War ii started seemingly innocent enough. Believing smooth-sounding lies and deceit led many to a tortuous death. Is this controversy over circumcision just the beginning of more woes for Jews living in Germany? The true fact of history shows that history repeats itself.

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 request a free copy of the booklet Hosea—Reaping the Whirlwind.