BRUSSELS — In a significant ruling on freedom of expression, the Criminal Court of Ghent acquitted Flemish author Herman Brusselmans of charges related to antisemitism and incitement to hatred. The court asserted that his satirical writing style does not amount to criminal behavior.
Brusselmans drew widespread criticism last summer from certain Jewish communities for a column he authored in the Belgian humor magazine Humo, which has since been removed from its website. In his controversial piece, he reflected on an image of a Palestinian child crying for his mother amidst the rubble and expressed his anger in a shocking manner, stating, “I want to ram a pointed knife straight down the throat of every Jew I meet.”
Court’s reasoning and community reaction
While the court acknowledged that some members of the Jewish community might have felt hurt by Brusselmans’s remarks, it emphasized that his expressions fall under the protections of free speech guaranteed by the Belgian constitution. The court noted, “The author’s expressions of opinion are protected by the right to freedom of expression,” reinforcing that the texts did not demonstrate an intention to incite violence against Jewish individuals or trivialize the Holocaust.
“The texts also do not show that the defendant wanted to incite hatred and violence against members of the Jewish community, or that he wanted to grossly minimize the Holocaust,” the court stated.
This decision has sparked outrage among some Jewish leaders. Michel Kotek, chairman of the Jewish Information and Documentation Centre, labeled the ruling as “a disgrace to the Belgian judiciary.” Rabbi Menachem Margolin, president of the European Jewish Association, expressed concern over the implications of the verdict, stating, “By issuing such a verdict, the Belgian judiciary sends a dangerous message: incitement to murder and hatred can be reinterpreted, excused, and ultimately legitimized — at least when the targets are Jews.”
Brusselmans’s response and ongoing legal issues
Following the verdict, Brusselmans expressed satisfaction with the ruling, stating, “I was proven right on all counts.” When questioned about the possibility of writing a similar column in the future, he indicated, “I write a column every week. I may adapt, I may not. But I am careful.”
It is worth noting that Brusselmans faces additional legal challenges related to the same column, indicating that this issue may not be resolved entirely.