The European Jewish Association has launched a fierce legal battle against Humo magazine and its writer, Herman Brusselmans, for ”incitement to murder.”

In a statement,  DPG Media, which owns and publishes Humo magazine, said: “Herman Brusselmans’ statements are part of a satirical column, not a journalistic article or an interview.”

After the European Jewish Association, Unia, Belgium’s public institution that fights discrimination and promotes equality, has also  filed a complaint against author Herman Brusselmans because of a column in Flemish Humo satirical magazine Humo, which is considered as incitement to murder.

In his weekly column for Humo, Herman Brusselmans wrote Tuesday that “the image of a screaming Palestinian boy for his mother lying under the rubble” – and the idea that it would be his girlfriend and son buried under the debris – makes him “so furious” that he wants to “ram a pointed knife down the throat’’ of every Jew he encounters.

He accuses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of murdering children and dragging the world into a third world war.

The European Jewish Association (EJA), a federation of Jewish communities across Europe, called the column “psychopathic” and announced Wednesday that it is going to court. “The EJA has launched a fierce legal battle against Humo magazine and its writer, Herman Brusselmans, for incitement to murder,” wrote Rabbi Menachem Margolin on X. “Such dangerous rhetoric invites real violence.” “This is a clear call for murder, against Jews and a clear case of anti-Semitism,” he said. “What we are seeing now is what we feared a few months ago,” added Rabbi Margolin. “What we are seeing is someone who crosses all red lines, it is clear that he blames all Jews in Europe for committing crimes in Israel.’’

Unia also said that Brusselmans is guilty of anti-Semitism. “Boundaries have been crossed. In our opinion, what he wrote is clearly anti-Semitism,” said Unia’s spokesperson Carol Poncin. “It is up to the court to decide whether what Brusselmans wrote is punishable or not. But for us there are by all means enough elements to file a complaint.”

On Flemish public television VRT, Herman Brusselmans called the EJA’s accusations, specifically that his words would incite to murder, “completely off the mark.” “In my column I create an image of a Palestinian child digging in the earth with his hands to find his mother again. In doing so, I imagine that that child is my little son, and the woman is my wife or mother, and in that case I would be inclined to take revenge,’’ he said.

He added: “The image of wanting to stab a pointed knife in the throat is a metaphorical image of all kinds of ways to get revenge. In my case, that is through writing. It is in no way incitement to murder.’’

The magazine stands by the column. “Herman Brusselmans’ statements are part of a satirical column, not a journalistic article or interview. For those who read the full column, it is abundantly clear that Herman did not mean the sentences literally,” it said.

Humo is mainly sold in Flanders, the Flemish part of Belgium, and the Netherlands.