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The type of male circumcision common today is not at all like the method Jews used to perform in antiquity.
The previous practice was called Brit Milah, which only removed a tiny piece of the foreskin. Often this ended up being nothing more than a nick on the penis, resulting in just a small scar. An example of this method of circumcision would be Michelangelo's statue of David. (Yes, there is an almost imperceptible circ scar line on his penis. To modern eyes, the statue looks uncut.)
After Roman Jews began to "hide their faith" by keeping their foreskin pulled over penis head, the procedure evolved to Brit Pariah which completely removes the penis' foreskin and frenulum... a "high and tight" circumcision.
When people say "circumcision has been done for thousands of years", they probably don't even realize much it has changed. The old Jewish rite of circumcision could be considered very similar to the Sunat method that Muslim families do to their daughters... just a small cut, a drop of blood, but leaving fully functioning genitalia.