East Flanders public prosecutor opens investigation into Herman Brusselmans’ column
The public prosecutor of East Flanders has opened an investigation into controversial statements made by writer Herman Brusselmans in a column in Flemish weekly magazine ‘Humo’, reported daily Het Laatste Nieuws.
In his controversial column last week, Brusselmans wrote that “the image of a screaming Palestinian boy for his mother lying under the rubble – keeping his own girlfriend and son in mind – enrages him so much that he wants to ram a pointed knife down the throat of every Jew he encounters.”
Unia, a anti-discrimination public service on Thursday filed a complaint with the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office in Ghent.
According to Unia, Brusselmans has violated the anti-racism law with his column and incited hatred or violence against persons of Jewish origin.
Unia is only filing a complaint against the author, not against the magazine or DPG Media, the magazine’s publisher, explained a spokesman for Unia to Belgian news agency Belga.
Brussels-based European Jewish Association (EJA), the largest federation of Jewish communities in Europe, has announced that it is starting a criuminal lawsuit action against Brusselmans, the magazine and the publisher, for ”incitement to murder and antisemitism.”
EJA Chairman Rabbi Menacheml Margolin reacted with satisfaction to the news of the opening of an investigation by the Flanders prosecutor. “This case is much bigger than Mr. Brusselmans. It is about a national magazine that reinforced disgusting hatred and for several days refused to remove it,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws.
“As such, regardless of this investigation, the lawsuits filed by the EJA and our coalition partners will continue unabated,’’ he added.