Arnon Grunberg thinks the controversial column by author Herman Brusselmans about the war between Israel and Hamas published by the magazine is not a satire. Moreover, according to him, Humo magazine ”did not react correctly to the situation.’’
Renowned Ducth writer Arnon Grunberg has decided to step down as a columnist for Flemish weekly magazine Humo after 25 years of collaboration, Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws reported.
Grunberg, who lives in Amsterdam, thinks the controversial column by author Herman Brusselmans about the war between Israel and Hamas published by the magazine is not a satire. Moreover, according to him, ‘’Humo magazine did not react correctly to the situation.’’
In his weekly column in Humo, a magazine sold both in Belgium and Netherlands, Brusselmans wrote that he wants to “ram a pointed knife down the throat of every Jew he encounters” because the war in Gaza.
He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of murdering children and dragging the world into a third world war. He wrote: “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.”
That statement viewed as a call to murder generated a great deal of controversy both at home and abroad.
“You are free to downplay and welcome revisionism (the revising of existing views or interpretations, often in a historical, political or ideological framework, ed.) in your magazine, but that does not mean that I wish to publish alongside the revisionist,” Grunberg stated in his letter of resignation to the editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief of Humo.
According to Grunberg, Humo’s reaction missed the point.
The Brussels-based European Jewish Association (EJA) filed a criminal lawsuit against Brusselmans and the magazine for ‘’incitement to murder.’’
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.
“It is a column in which I use an expression that is patently not to be interpreted literally,” Brusselmans said.
Humo removed the column from his online version but the magazine itself remained for selling in press shops.
The Coordination Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations (CCOJB) in Brussels and the Forum of Jewish Organizations in Antwerp have also decided to bring Brusselmans before the criminal court for ‘’incitement to hatred and violence and threats of attack against individuals.’’
Together with the Institute Jonathas, a center for study and action to combat anti-Semitism in Belgium, they consider Brusselmans’ ‘’repugnant and anti-Semitic remarks to be extremely serious.’’
They also consider that the press group which publicizes them in this way ‘’assumes a considerable moral responsibility by stirring up anti-Semitism in this way.’’
‘’It cannot be tolerated that in a democratic society, respectful of universal values, freedom of expression be used in this way to stir up hatred. This is not a question of satire, or even tasteless humor, but of incitement to violence and murder against Jews,’’ the organizations said Tuesday.