By TAMARA STEIN SEPTEMBER 8, 2026

European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi told a room of rabbis in Brussels this week that Europe cannot claim to welcome Jewish communities while making Jewish life impossible to practice. Speaking at a Rosh Hashanah gathering organized by the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), the Hungarian commissioner delivered a blunt message to his own institution: “Europe cannot say that Jewish life belongs here, while making it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to live a full Jewish life here.” His words landed in the middle of a legal crisis that has put the ritual of brit milah, circumcision, on trial in a European Union member state for the first time in the bloc’s history.Spain is the most prominent example. In September 2025, Madrid adopted a law intended to establish a broad embargo on weapons and defense equipment involving Israel, including restrictions on exports to Israel and imports from Israel. Israeli officials say that in practice, the embargo is not airtight, in part because the law allows the government to approve exceptions when it determines that the national interest requires it.y, and civilian infrastructure – including its energy infrastructure – and send Iran back deep into the Stone Age and darkness.”