Inon Schenker

Runs:

Operation Abraham

Colleagues & Benefactors:

Daniel T. Halperin

Inon Schenker is head of Israeli group Operation Abraham, whose sole purpose is to promote circumcision any which way it can. At the 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, Schenker proposed lobbying the AAP on the issue of infant circumcision in his presentation abstract and at the conference itself. In an act of cynicism, or in just plain ignorance, Schenker claims a debate on "the benefits of circumcision" has yet to occur in the United States, and he pretends to want to start one. He further tries to argue that Operation Abraham's motives have nothing to do with Judaism, despite the organization's obvious name. Opponents to Opration Abraham, argues Schenker, were led by "ignorance or cruelty or antisemitism."

Schenker's "Scientific Presentation"

In an interview with the Jewish Daily Forward, Schenker complains of vocal intactivists at the Atlanta conference “They were very aggressive in their response. I think they’ve done a bad job for their case. If you have an argument, state it; let’s discuss. If you have an emotional agenda, you don’t bring it into a scientific conference. You bring it to the newspapers, you put it in blogs. But not in a scientific conference. Science is science. Base yourself on evidence.” And yet, this is the presentation he tried to give at the conference:

“

David Llewellyn's Account of NHPC 2009 At one of the last sessions, the speaker from "Operation Abraham," an Israel-based group that apparently hopes to be engaged to assist the U.S. in circumcising black and Hispanic males, put a photo of an intact male up on the screen. The figure of an elephant had been drawn around the penis so that the intact penis looked like an elephant's trunk. The words "Yes! A circumcision please!" had been added to the photo. I remonstrated loudly until this smear against intact males was taken down. I then promptly left the session. I am still awaiting a deserved, written, direct apology from Dr. Peter Kilmarx, Chief of the Epidemiology Branch of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention of the CDC, who was in attendance and from whom I demanded an apology. – Llewellyn, D. (NHPC 2009)

Schenker should not be complaining about the emotional response he himself elicited. What would be his reaction to a charicature of what was supposed to be a Jewish person? "Science and evidence" indeed.

Circumcising Hispanics

At the 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference, Inon Schenker outlined a plan to come to America to promote circumcision in communities where circumcision is not part of the culture, particularly Hispanic communities.