‘’A strong, uncompromising response is absolutely necessary lest others think they can also call publicly for the mass murder of Jews,’’ says Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association (EJA).

‘’This is a step in the right direction,’’ said Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association (EJA), after Flemish magazine Humo removed a column that is considered as incitement to murder, but he said the legal case against the controversial writer, magazine and publisher would continue “until justice is properly and meaningfully served.’’

In his column on Sunday, headlined: “The Middle East will explode, a Third World War is coming,” writer and columnist Brusselmans described the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “short, fat, bald Jew” who “for whatever reason wants to ensure that the entire Arab world is wiped out.”

He continued: “For every Hamas or Hezbollah fighter killed by that sh*tty Israeli army, hundreds of innocent civilians are killed, and we can’t help but keep repeating that many of those are children, and that we here in the so-called safe West cannot imagine that the same fate would befall our children.”

The column sparked outrage in the Jewish community. The European Jewish Association, as well as other organizations, Jewish and non-Jewish, have announced a legal proceedings against Brusselsmans and the magazine publisher.

In a statement issued on Friday, Rabbi Margolin noted that while the removal of the highly offensive article is ‘’a step in the right direction,’’ the the author of the column ‘’has shown zero remorse for his “thought experiment” of murdering any Jew he meets in the street.’’ ‘’He continues to regard incitement to murder as his freedom of speech,’’ he added.

‘’The magazine editors only belatedly decided to remove the offending piece after a massive public outcry. This is all much too little, much too late,’’ Margolin said.

He confirmed that the EJA and a coalition of Jewish leaders and organisations in Belgium will continue the legal action against the writer, magazine and publisher.

‘’We still demand a full apology from the magazine and the suspension of Mr Brusselmans,’’ said Margolin.

‘’A strong, uncompromising response is absolutely necessary lest others think they can also call publicly for the mass murder of Jews,’’ he insisted.