Norwegian Newspaper Cartoon Compares Circumcision To Child Sex Abuse

“I understand exactly how it is with you! I also get messages from invisible men in the sky to play around with small kids’ penises.” Image by Dagbladet

By Aiden Pink May 17, 2017

A cartoon in one of Norway’s largest newspapers compared circumcision to pedophilia amid a debate in that country over whether to ban the religious practice.

The cartoon, published Tuesday in Dagbladet, depicts a disheveled man talking to Jewish and Muslim protesters holding signs reading “Yes to circumcision” and “Freedom of religion.” The man responds, “I understand exactly how it is with you! I also get messages from invisible men in the sky to play around with small kids’ penises!”

The push to ban circumcision is led by the anti-immigrant Progress Party, a junior member of the governing coalition. The party voted at its annual convention on Saturday to support a law banning the practice, which it claimed was a violation of human rights and caused physical and mental harm to children.

Party leader Siv Jensen claimed that she was against banning circumcision and denied that the move targeted religious minorities, noting that her party supported Israel.

“This is very sad,” Jewish community leader Ervin Kohn told the newspaper Aftenposten. “They must know they won’t get a majority for this in Parliament. It seems like they want to send a signal that we are unwelcome in the country.”

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO