Inon Schenker
|
| Inon Schenker |
| Runs: |
| Operation Abraham |
| Colleagues & benefactors: |
| Daniel T. Halperin |
Inon Schenker is head of the Israeli group Operation Abraham,[1] whose sole purpose is to promote circumcision any which way it can.[2] Operation Abraham is based on the alleged Abrahamic covenant.
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.[3] 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.[2] He further tries to argue that Operation Abraham's motives have nothing to do with Judaism, despite the organization's obvious name. Opponents to Operation Abraham, argues Schenker, were led by "ignorance or cruelty or antisemitism."
Contents
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)[4] |
Schenker should not be complaining about the emotional response he himself elicited. What would be his reaction to a caricature 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. Schenker evidently is a circumcised man who wants others to experience the same trauma of circumcision as did he.[5]
Circumcision does not prevent HIV infection
Population-based studies
September 2021 saw the publication of two huge population studies on the relationship of circumcision and HIV infection:
- Mayan et al. (2021) carried out a massive empirical study of the male population of the province of Ontario, Canada (569,950 males), of whom 203,588 (35.7%) were circumcised between 1991 and 2017. The study concluded that circumcision status is not related to risk of HIV infection.[6]
- Morten Frisch & Jacob Simonsen (2021) carried out a large scale empirical population study in Denmark of 855,654 males regarding the alleged value of male circumcision in preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in men. They found that circumcised men have a higher rate of STI and HIV infection overall than intact men.[7]
No association between lack of circumcision and risk of HIV infection was found by either study. There now is credible evidence that the massive, expensive African circumcision programs have not been effective in preventing HIV infection.
Two African surveys
The previously reported studies were from developed Western nations. Now we have information from Sub_Saharan Africa.
French scientist Michel Garenne, Ph.D. has published two reports in 2022 comparing the incidence of HIV infection in circumcised and intact men.
In his first report, Garenne presented the findings from a study in Lesotho, the enclave in South Africa. He reported:
In couple studies, the effect of circumcision and VMMC on HIV was not significant, with similar transmission from female to male and male to female. The study questions the amount of effort and money spent on VMMC in Lesotho.[8]
In his second report, Garenne (2022) presented information from six Sub-Saharan African nations (Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe). He reported:
"Results matched earlier observations made in South Africa that circumcised and intact men had similar levels of HIV infection."[9]
References
- ↑
Red Eye ownz!, Atlanta, Georgia. NPIN. (23 August 2009–26 August 2009)
- ↑ a b
Beckerman, Gal (9 September 2009)."Operation Abraham Coming to America?", The Jewish Daily Forward.
- ↑
Wilton, David (10 September 2009). Male Circumcision and HIV
. - ↑ Llewellyn, D. (2009, Aug 31). NHPC 2009: Report from a member of intact America.
- ↑
van der Kolk BA. The compulsion to repeat the trauma: re-enactment, revictimization, and masochism. Psychiatr Clin North Am. June 1989; 12(2): 389-411. PMID. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
- ↑ Mayan M, Hamilton RJ, Juurlink DN, Austin PC, Jarvi KA. Circumcision and Risk of HIV Among Males From Ontario, Canada. J Urol. 23 September 2021; PMID. DOI. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
Quote:We found that circumcision was not independently associated with the risk of acquiring HIV among men from Ontario, Canada.
- ↑ Frisch M, Simonsen J. Non-therapeutic male circumcision in infancy or childhood and risk of human immunodeficiency virus and other sexually transmitted infections: national cohort study in Denmark. Eur J Epidemiol. 26 September 2021; 37: 251–9. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ↑ Garenne M. Changing relationships between HIV prevalence and circumcision in Lesotho. J Biosoc Sci. 4 April 2022; online ahead of print: 1-16. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
- ↑ Garenne M. Age-incidence and prevalence of HIV among intact and circumcised men: an analysis of PHIA surveys in Southern Africa. J Biosoc Sci. 26 October 2022; : 1-13. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
