@agracier Right. My mother never called my surgery "circumcision" but rather "surgery for phimosis", and also claimed it was different from the ritual one! I think it was a way for her to reassure herself.
I remember from my last years in high school, must have been 1968 or 69. Our teacher Dutch, who liked to babble on about subjects outside of the actual lesson, to our delight, once told us about what happened to a friend of his. His friend had been in a Muslim country, I forget which but one that was very hostile to Israel at the time. Anyway, his friend was very good at languages, speaking several very well. So well, that the authorities were suspicious of him being Jewish, because after all, in their eyes, as the clichés go, Jews are said to be excellent linguists.
Now since Belgian travel papers or any official papers of any kind for that matter, make no mention of a person's religion, the only way the man was allowed to leave that Arabic country was to show he wasn't Jewish was to show he was not circumcised. He was taken to a side room, given the look over and then the customs officers or security officers, accepted that his Belgian passport was legit. He wasn't circumcised and hence not Jewish.
A silly anecdote in a way, but also somewhat ominous to us. It was a sort of cautionary tale about being possibly mistaken about your religion because of your circumcision status.
The teacher didn't tell it in any political manner or such, but more in a humorous manner. As a way to get out of a tight fix in a Muslim country and a bit as an embarrassed occasion.
I myself took it as a cautionary tale. That coupled with my mother's often repeated stories about what happened to her Jewish friends during the war.