The European Jewish Association and its coalition partners have completed their criminal complaint against writer Herman Brusselmans and the DPG Media Group for spreading antisemitism and incitement in an Aug. 4 column published in the Flemish weekly Humo.
The lawsuit is expected to be filed by EJA’s legal representatives next week before an investigating judge in Ghent, Belgium, the EJA said on Friday.
The EJA’s partners in the complaint are the Forum of Jewish Organisations, the Jewish Information and Documentation Centre, the Jewish Community of Antwerp-Shomre Hadas and the Belgian League Against Antisemitism.
In his column about the 10-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Brusselmans wrote: “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 girlfriend, Lena, and I am so angry that I want to push a sharp knife in the throat of every Jew I come across.”
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.”
According to EJA, the editor of Humo magazine, the deputy editor, the editing company and its CEO, its directors and its officers also “have played a key role and are responsible for their practical support in the publication of the hateful and inciting column.”
“If such support were not given, the publication of this inciting article would not have been published,” it said.
Humo is part of DPG Media, the largest Belgian multimedia group.
According to EJA, since the publication, the deputy editor-in-chief, supported by the highest officers of the editor, “constantly continued to try to justify and to support this previous statement and also published a reaction of the author who said, “Above all, I meant that if this happened to my child, I would do something to the perpetrators.’’
“In this additional statement explicitly relating to his previous incitement to kill every Jew that he meets, the author confirms with no doubts and no ambiguity that he considers … every Jew as a perpetrator of a crime and that this would justify his anger against all Jews and his public statement that he wants to stick a sharp knife down the throat of every Jew he meets,’’ the EJA added.
“The press organ that not only published these statements by Mr. Herman Brusselmans but also knowingly continues to support and to try justifying these statements, instead of publicly condemning it and taking measures to avoid it in the future, assumes a distinct responsibility by stirring up antisemitism,’’ it said.
Incitement has spread
European Jewish Association chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin described the lawsuit as “the Dreyfus trial of our era,’’ adding that “the interest in this is worldwide.’”
He added that “people are waiting to see if the court will protect Jews in Belgium who find themselves fearing for their lives as incitement has spread from dark corners of social media into the mainstream media here. This milestone trial will have a major impact on the attitude of the law enforcement authorities in Belgium, and indeed outside of it, in how it treats hate speech and incitement towards minorities,’’ he said.
“All eyes are on the court,” said the rabbi. “The hope is that judges will understand the magnitude of the incitement against the Jews in Belgium that is reminiscent of that of the 1930s, which ultimately led to the Holocaust.’’
Margolin said he expects the court to declare that freedom of speech and the press “cannot be misused to spread and incite hate against innocent citizens and encourage harm towards them.”
“The European Jewish Association will act with full force in every possible legal court action against DPG media group for justice to be served and Jewish life to be protected,’’ he added.
He called on other journalists to follow in the footsteps of Dutch writer Arnon Grunberg, who ended a quarter century of collaboration with Humo over the affair.
EJA and its coalition partners of the Jewish community in the complaint are represented by Belgian lawyers David Szafran and Sven Mary to engage the relevant procedures before the competent jurisdictions amongst others for incitement to hatred and violence.
Szafran said: “It is largely accepted under the law and the jurisprudence that freedom of expression and so-called satire never justify incitement to hate and to violence and murder. It is also clear that the editor also has an important role and responsibility not only for its practical support in the publication of the hateful and inciting article but also, knowingly, for continuing to support and to try justifying these statements instead of publicly condemning it and prevent it from happening again in the future.”
Mary added: “Especially in the context of a total absence of prevention and of appropriate measures by the responsible press organ, only a reaction from the judicial authorities is likely to prevent the recurrence of such infamy and the jeopardy of the safety of those who are thus violently stigmatized.”
Unia, an anti-discrimination public service in Belgium, reportedly filed a complaint against Brusselmans with the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office in Ghent. According to Unia, the author has violated the anti-racism law with his column and incited hatred or violence against persons of Jewish origin.
Between 40,000 and 50,000 Jews live in Belgium, mostly in Antwerp and Brussels.
Originally published by the European Jewish Press.
