The European Jewish Association (EJA) is starting legal proceedings for incitement to murder against Herman Brusselmans.

In a letter to Humo editor-in-chief Bart Veneger, EJA Chairman Rabbi Margolin demands a full apology and the suspension of the column author.

”As editor of a popular magazine we find it incredible that this got past your desk.With antisemitism and antizionism at record levels in Europe, did you really believe it was appropriate to publish this piece?,” he asked.

 

The Brussels based European Jewish Association (EJA) representing hundreds of Jewish communities across the continent, is starting a legal action for incitement to murder against a writer who said he ”wants to shove a sharp knife in the throat of every Jew I come across” in a column published in Belgian satirical  magazine Humo, for incitement to murder.

 It is also demanding a suspension of the author, Herman Brusselmans,  as well as a full public apology from the publisher.

“There is nothing, nothing even remotely funny, ironic or satirical about the psychopathic incitement to murder Jews,” said Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the EJA chairman, in a statement on Tuesday.

In the Humo piece Herman Briusselmans accuses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of murdering children and dragging the world into a third world war: “The Middle East will explode, with unruly consequences for the rest of the world. And all this by a small, thick and bald Jew, who bears the ominous name of Bibi Netanyahu. I see a picture of a Palestinian child crying and screaming completely beyond all senses to his mother lying under the debris, and I imagine that this child is my son Roman, and the mother is my friend Lena, and I am so angry that I want to push a sharp knife in the throat of every Jew I come across.”

Rabbi Margolin added: “We know this is a shock-jock journalist, who pushes the boundaries. But publicly expressing his desire to stab the throat of any Jew he comes across is psychopathic. Given his popularity and infamy, it is also an invitation for others to do likewise. It is completely and utterly out of all bounds.”

“The publication of this disgusting column indicates a serious flaw in the judgment of the editors. We demand a full apology in public for its publication and the suspension of the writer involved.”

In a letter to Humo editor-in-chief Bart Veneger, Rabbi Margolin demanded a full apology and the suspension of the column author.

”As editor of a popular magazine we find it incredible that this got past your desk. With antisemitism and antizionism at record levels in Europe, did you really believe it was appropriate to publish this piece?  Jews are world-famous for their humour and satire. This is neither of the two. It is disgusting, dangerous and stupid,” her wrote.

It is not the first time that the 66-year-old writer had made such comments. Last December, he accused Israel of using the same methods as the Germans to “destroy an entire race”.

The Transatlantic Institute of the American Jewish Committee wrote on X: “We call on the Belgian police to prosecute him and the entire editorial team responsible for this call for murder.”

Humo magazine  was founded in 1936 and is the leading weekly in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.