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(JNS) Jewish and Israel advocacy organizations decried a Belgian magazine on Tuesday for publishing a virulently anti-Semitic column whose author writes that he wants to “stab every Jew in the throat with a pointed knife” over the death of Palestinian children killed in the Gaza Strip.
The incendiary remarks published in a Dutch-language Belgian weekly magazine, which the groups say are rife with both antisemitic tropes and intonations, come as anti-Jewish hatred is escalating around the globe, including—and especially—in Brussels, in the wake of the 10-month-long war against Hamas in Gaza.
“It hasn’t escaped me either that a Third World War is looming. The Middle East will explode with malicious consequences for the rest of the globe,” reads the column by Herman Brusselmans in Humo magazine. “And all because of a small, fat, bald Jew with the ominous name Bibi Netanyahu, who, for whatever reason, wants to ensure that the entire Arab world is wiped out.”
He was referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving premier of the Jewish state.
The war began after the Hamas massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, with thousands wounded and as many as 250 others abducted to Gaza, about 115 of whom are still being held captive there.
“For every Hamas or Hezbollah fighter killed by that Israeli military, hundreds of innocent civilians are killed, and we must keep repeating that many children are among them and that we here, in the supposedly safe West, cannot imagine that the same fate could befall our children,” writes the columnist, grossly falsifying the ratio of civilians to gunmen killed in Gaza, which at less than 2:1 even by unverified and contentious Hamas figures is among the lowest is urban warfare in the world.
“I see an image of a crying and screaming Palestinian boy, frantically calling for his mother buried under the rubble, and I imagine that boy is my own son Roman and the mother my own girlfriend Lena, and I become so furious that I want to stab every Jew I encounter in the throat with a pointed knife,” continues the column.
“Of course, you always have to remember: not every Jew is a murderous bastard, and to embody that thought, I imagine an elderly Jewish man shuffling through my street, dressed in a faded shirt, fake cotton pants, and old sandals, and I feel pity for him and almost tear up, but later I wish him to hell, and yes, that’s a mood swing, and my upcoming collection will unfortunately be full of them.”
‘This type of rhetoric is not new’
The New York-based World Jewish Congress deplored the article and called on government leaders and the media to do more to protect Jews from such incitement, saying it could lead to devastating consequences.
“Herman Brusselmans doesn’t even try to disguise his antisemitism. The caricatures he dreams up and his proclivity to violence should have caused Humo’s editors to reject this article upon first review,” Ernest Herzog, the head of WJC’s Combating Anti-Semitism, Intelligence and Security Division, told JNS.
“Unfortunately, this type of rhetoric is not new or unknown to us,” he said. “It is not only deeply offensive but also harmful, as it fosters an environment of hatred and intolerance which has only intensified since Oct. 7.”
“We are appalled by Brusselmans’ writings and his unacceptable views towards the Jewish people, which comes at a time of a rise in antisemitism in Europe, and particularly, in Brussels,” said Leo van Doesburg, Europe director of the Israel Allies Foundation. “We urge the European Commission and the E.U. Coordinator on Combating Anti-Semitism to strongly condemn these reprehensible writings and engage in serious discussions with the Belgium Government.”
“They crossed a red line,” Michel Kotek, founder and chairman of Gid, a Belgian-Jewish organization, told JNS. “This is pure antisemitism. It is not arguable.”
Kotek said that his group was checking its legal options against the magazine, which he said has long cowered behind liberal freedom of speech laws in Belgium.
The magazine did not respond to an email from JNS on Tuesday for comment.
Between 40,000 and 50,000 Jews live in Belgium, mostly in Antwerp and Brussels.
