Be in no doubt what is happening in Germany. The decision to file charges against Rabbi David Goldberg is an explicit, unambiguous and frightening attack not merely on circumcision but on the very practice of Judaism. It beggars belief that 67 years after the Holocaust, the German state - this time in the form of its criminal justice system - is once again targeting Jews for punishment for no other reason than that they are Jews.

This time, of course, Muslims too are under fire, and we must stand together and demand an end to what is - despite the entirely spurious arguments put forward by campaigners against circumcision - a straightforwardly racist attack. Circumcision is also under fire elsewhere. So it is all the more worrying that the reaction this week from the Anglo-Jewish establishment has been to say and do precisely nothing.

There have been promises in recent months that some form of campaign group would be set up, similar to Shechita UK. But even though the threat has now moved from the theoretical to the real - a Jew is actually facing a criminal charge in Germany just for being Jewish - there has not been a single community leader prepared to say a word. Some leadership.