GALDEF’s November 9th global educational/fundraising webinar was a great success. After the screening of Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon’s film CUT: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision, there was a lively hour-long Q&A session expertly managed by Board member Alexis Lanzillotta in which attendees asked panelists a number of very thought-provoking questions. Below is a brief summary, and we know you’ll want to hear the entire Q&A session in the video below.

Eli was asked about his father, a rabbi – who he interviewed extensively for this documentary – and his father’s journey and growth on the circumcision issue. Another question centered on how to respond to accusations that Jews who oppose circumcision are somehow “self-hating Jews.” Still another question revolved around orthodox believers who remain unconvinced by the widespread concept that bodily integrity is a universal human right by saying their bodies (and their children’s bodies) don’t belong to them but to God.

An extended discussion followed about movement strategy. Some activists take an absolutist position that – from a moral, philosophical, legal, ethical and human rights view – Jewish and Muslim boys deserve the same right to bodily integrity as all other children and therefore the movement should pursue legislative or legal tactics without a religious exemption. Others believe that a more effective approach would be an incremental one that first discredits and eliminates the medical practice, which accounts for more than 98% of all newborn circumcisions in the U.S.

Eli agreed that, from a social justice perspective, the former tactic makes complete sense. However, he and many Jewish and non-Jewish intactivists believe that the genital autonomy movement would not be well-served by insisting on a tactic that has ‘no religious exemption.’ He supports the latter incremental approach in which the movement should first focus on eliminating the medical practice, thereby undermining the widely-held and erroneous belief of many Americans, including many Jews and Muslims, that circumcision carries health benefits. Such a victory, brought on by one or more legal or legislative efforts, could compel the medical community to finally acknowledge that long-term harms from irreversible non-consensual surgery on children are real and that they outweigh any alleged ‘health benefits’ (easily achievable through non-invasive alternatives), and to affirm every child’s basic human right to bodily integrity and that this right, in the name of true gender equality, be safeguarded regardless of sex. When medical societies are compelled to acknowledge these harms and adopt a higher ethical stance and start publicly discouraging non-therapeutic non-consensual childhood circumcision, greater numbers of religious parents will likely abandon circumcision. Only then would it be wise to attempt a second step, led by men from the Jewish and Muslim communities – with the support of their non-Jewish/non-Muslim intactivist allies – to file their own legal claims of harm to further mitigate the religious practice.

The recording of this thought provoking Q&A session can be accessed here.

GALDEFs next webinar film screening is planned for the first half of March 2025. For the exact date and to remain informed of other GALDEF news, please subscribe to our free email newsletter.