The European Jewish Association (EJA) is taking legal action against Belgian magazine Humo and writer Herman Brusselmans following a column published Sunday, accusing the publication and author of “incitement to murder.”
In his column, the Belgian author wrote that when he saw the image of a Palestinian boy screaming for his mother beneath rubble of a building, he imagined his son and wife in the same situation and “became so enraged that I want to ram a pointed knife straight down the throat of every Jew I meet.”
He continued: “You always have to think, of course: not every Jew is a murderous bastard, and to give shape to that thought I imagine an elderly Jewish man shuffling down my own street, dressed in a washed-out shirt, fake cotton pants and old sandals, and I feel sorry for him and almost get tears in my eyes, but a moment later I wish him to hell.”
The piece sparked outrage among Europe’s Jewish community. Several prominent rabbis argued that despite its satirical nature, Brusselmans’ language contributes to the normalization of antisemitism and violence against Jews. Since the Oct. 7 terror attack, in which around 1,200 people in Israel died, and the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas that has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in Europe and worldwide.
The EJA, the largest association of Jewish organizations and communities in Europe, condemned the piece as “psychopathic” hate speech in a statement posted on X. The organization a public apology from the newspaper and the immediate suspension of Brusselmans.
“Such dangerous rhetoric invites real violence,” the statement read. “This is a battle against hate speech, and the EJA is not backing down!”
Brusselmans, a prominent Flemish novelist known for his obscene and inflammatory remarks — some of which he has been sued for in the past — denied the accusation.
“With my column, I wanted to say that when something is done to your loved ones for no reason at all, you are imbued with total anger,” he told Belgian media VRT news.
The publication also defended Brusselmans’ column, describing it as “satirical.”
“Herman Brusselmans is a celebrated and respected writer who uses a typically mocking and insulting style. In his numerous books and texts he avidly uses hyperboles as well as rather crude language. More than for other chronicles, it is therefore necessary to judge one’s own according to literary and not journalistic criteria,” Humo said in a statement.
Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said he feared that Brusselmans words would inspire real violence, even if they were meant as tongue-in-cheek.
“With satire, a certain part of what has been written and said can be used from people with people that are not familiar with the language. There is always the fear that words are going to lead to dangerous and violent acts. We have seen that in the past therefore we are very concerned about this,” Goldschmidt told POLITICO. “In a country like Belgium that has a very large immigrant population, I think that people need to be much more careful about what they say.”
Israeli Ambassador to Belgium Idit Rosenzweig-Abu also condemned the piece. “What if someone in the Belgian press said, ‘I’m so angry that I want to stick a knife in the neck of every Muslim I meet’?” she asked on X.
Speaking to POLITICO she said: “This kind of discourse is unacceptable. I don’t think it would have been acceptable towards any other kind of Belgian citizen regardless of their religion.”
EJA Chairman Menachem Margolin said that the paper had “committed a crime for allowing these words to be published.”
“What he did is very dangerous, and the authorities must stop this gentleman,” Margolin told POLITICO. “The message has to be clear: anyone who has these ideas needs to be very careful.”