A shockingly poor piece by a female journalist in The Guardian. Much of it is given over to Jewish and Muslim proponents of MGM and nothing is written about the known harms (physical and sometimes psychological) caused by the procedure. Some encouraging extracts:
A bill currently before the Icelandic parliament proposes a penalty of up to six years in prison for anyone carrying out a circumcision other than for medical reasons. Critics say the move, which has sparked alarm among religious leaders across Europe, would make life for Jews and Muslims in Iceland unsustainable…
The Icelandic bill says the circumcision of young boys violates their rights and is incompatible with the United Nations convention on the rights of the child. It draws a parallel with female genital mutilation, already outlawed in most European countries…
Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir of the centre-right Progressive party said she had proposed the bill after realising that there was no ban on male circumcision although FGM has been outlawed in Iceland since 2005. “If we have laws banning circumcision for girls, then we should do so for boys,” she said.
“We are talking about children’s rights, not about freedom of belief. Everyone has the right to believe in what they want, but the rights of children come above the right to belief.”
Nordic countries had well-deserved reputations for promoting human rights, she added. “If Iceland backs this, I think other countries will follow.”
The issue of circumcision has been raised in other European countries but none has outlawed it…
The Icelandic bill on circumcision has cross-party backing and wide public support, Gunnarsdóttir said. If it passes its first reading, the bill will go into committee stage for several months before it can become law.
The proponents of MGM in the piece include Milah UK. Last Thursday I was interviewed for two hours by the BBC, to give them plenty of material to attempt to edit down to a few minutes of ‘gotcha!’ footage for inclusion in a late-night show next week, more of this in due course. The (female) interviewer tried to intimate that I and J4MB had received a huge amount of BBC exposure in the five years since our launch, citing numerous programmes. I pointed out much of the exposure had been brief and confrontational, unlike the far lengthier (and supportive) exposure the BBC have given to the newer party, the Wimmin’s Equality Party. The reason for mentioning this is that the interviewer referred to Jonathan Vernon-Smith’s show on BBC 3 Counties Radio (Beds, Herts and Bucks). Some of these shows concerned MGM, in which I debated with Jewish proponents of MGM. In one such episode I debated with Simon Hochhauser of Milah UK – here (14:49).
Justice for Men & Boys 
A Google search brings up:
‘ … Iceland has about 100 Jews who call this North Atlantic island home … Iceland’s Jewish community comes from around the world. There are no native Icelandic Jews to speak of … Most of the Jews who reside in Iceland come from secular backgrounds, and the community’s identity does not lie in religion. Indeed, most of the Jews here today are in interfaith marriages. Many in the community, however, are interested in retaining a connection to their Jewish heritage.‘
(from Forward)
So approximately fifty males from a total Iceland population of 336,769 men and women (‘as of Sunday, February 18, 2018, based on the latest United Nations estimates‘ – from Worldometers)
Fewer than 0.03% of the male population of Iceland. I think such a tiny minority, who are not devoutly religious, if observant at all, can reasonably be expected to respect the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the population.
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Fascinating so the “religious reasons and beliefs” behind FGM don’t count but they do for MGM? And in the UK there are legal controls on age for tattoos and piercings but not apparently circumcision? This really is about basic human rights, infant boys are denied theirs. If for all the other procedures that may be religious or cultural in derivation the child is protected; how can the kowtowing to Jewish or Muslim observance “trump” all else. Whatever the levels of risk the continuation of an unnecessary procedure on infants cannot be justified in the context that there is no other similar procedure on the body that remains outside the law.
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“The Icelandic bill says the circumcision of young boys violates their rights and is incompatible with the United Nations convention on the rights of the child. It draws a parallel with female genital mutilation, already outlawed in most European countries.”
.. and that ladies and gentlemen is the reason why Iceland ( despite being a feminist led country) gets it…
from the guardian
“Many Jews and Muslims fear the issue of circumcision could become a proxy for antisemitism and Islamophobia,”
Islamophobia is not a thing, It was a term created by the Muslim brotherhood in the 1990s to shut down criticism of the extreme behavior of the brotherhood by other Muslims.
(I’ve heard it several times in the mosques of muslims called islamophobes by the brotherhood when they challenge the brotherhood behavior) .
if anything the proxy for the ban would lead to further questioning about the abuse of men and boys (for instance parental alienation) solely on the basis of their gender.
..again from the guardian
“Muslims in Iceland were already traveling to neighboring countries to have the procedure performed on babies because of the reluctance of local doctors.”
which is why I believe that it should be a criminal offense ( with a custodial sentence) if a child is taken abroad for MGM. If need be male children should be checked as part of the their normal Doctors checkup with the parent signing a declaration that MGM has not been performed( you can use the declaration as evidence if MGM is discovered)
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