Editors at a Belgian magazine faced significant backlash and ultimately removed a shockingly antisemitic article in which the columnist expressed a desire to stab every Jew. The Belgian publication, HUMO, took down the piece penned by Herman Brusselmans after facing intense protests and considerable pressure.
In the now-deleted article, Brusselmans, a well-known and provocative Belgian author and columnist, wrote that he had a "strong urge to ram a sharp knife through the throat of every Jew I meet due to Israel's actions in Gaza." He went on to describe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in derogatory terms, calling him a "short, fat and bald Jew." Initially, the editorial team stood by the author, defending the piece as "satire."
Brusselmans, 66, and known for his controversial and often inflammatory writing style, penned the column last Sunday. He focused on the "suffering of the Palestinians" in the Gaza conflict, using a particularly inflammatory passage: "I see an image of a crying, screaming Palestinian boy, completely madly calling for his mother lying under the rubble, and I imagine that boy is my own son Roman, and the mother is my own friend Lena, and I become so angry that I want to ram a sharp knife through the throat of every Jew I meet."
Jewish organizations and Belgian politicians vehemently condemned the inciting antisemitic remarks and filed complaints against Brusselmans and the magazine's editorial team. The European Jewish Association (EJA) labeled the article a "call to murder" Jews, warning that "such dangerous rhetoric invites real violence."
In response to the uproar, Mathias Vandenbroucke, the deputy editor-in-chief of HUMO, stated on the magazine's website: "Of course, we never intended to offend the Jewish community. If that happened, we want to apologize. This is also the reason why we ultimately decided to remove it from the website."
The European Jewish Association welcomed the removal of the article, calling it "a step in the right direction." However, Brusselmans himself showed no remorse. Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the association, commented on the article's removal, calling it: "Too little, too late."