Writer who wanted to ‘ram a knife down Jews’ throats’ acquitted by Belgian court

Belgian author Herman Brusselmans, who wrote last August, “I get so furious that I want to ram a sharp knife through the throat of every Jew I meet,” was acquitted Tuesday by the Ghent court in Belgium of charges of Holocaust denial, racism, and incitement to hatred.

Jewish organizations around the world condemned the ruling, which determined that Brusselmans’ column was legitimate free expression. They warned it would set a dangerous precedent that would make it harder to fight antisemitism in Europe.

Last August, Brusselmans, a well-known writer and intellectual who appears regularly on television, sparked turmoil in Europe’s Jewish community when he wrote an ostensibly satirical piece in the Belgian magazine Humo describing his wrath after seeing Palestinians dying in Gaza.

“I see an image of a crying and screaming Palestinian boy, completely out of his mind, calling for his mother who is lying under the rubble,” Brusselmans wrote. “I get so angry that I want to ram a sharp knife through the throat of every Jew I meet.”

“Of course, you always have to remember: Not every Jew is a murderous bastard,” he added. “I imagine an elderly Jewish man shuffling down my own street, dressed in a washed-out shirt, fake cotton trousers and old sandals, and I feel sorry for him and almost get tears in my eyes, but a moment later I wish him to hell.”

Antisemitism has run rampant in Europe and across the world since Hamas launched its war with Israel on October 7, 2023, drawing a military response that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on and just after October 7.

People walk by banners hanging inside a window of an an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel students and activists at Ghent University, as students occupy parts of the campus in Ghent, Belgium, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

The Belgium court ruled that Brusselmans’ statement was a permissable form of free expression and did not constitute a criminal offense.

“The court recognizes that certain members of the Jewish community could possibly take offense at some sentences in some columns, but emphasizes that the author’s expressions of opinion are protected by the right to free speech,” the judge wrote.

Following the ruling, European Jewish Association (EJA) president Rabbi Menachem Margolin called the decision “a deeply alarming message about the state of the fight against antisemitism in Belgium and Europe.’’

“Today, the Belgian justice system has established a grave precedent: hate crime laws are flexible – and when it comes to Jews, they suddenly become malleable,’’ he said.

“By issuing such a verdict, the Belgian judiciary sends a dangerous message: incitement to murder and hatred can be reinterpreted, excused, and ultimately legitimized – at least when the targets are Jews,’’ Margolin added. He called on the Belgian government to make urgent legislative reforms to close the legal loopholes that enable such “morally and legally indefensible rulings.’’

Jewish Information and Documentation Center chairman Michel Kotek also spoke out against the decision.

“This is a disgrace to Belgian jurisprudence. For someone who has been making such statements since 1993, we are no longer talking about an incident,” he said. “This is a constant repetition of moves in which anti-Semitic statements predominate.”

“We, too, are for freedom of speech,” Kotek added. “But where it spills over into hatred and the deprivation of safety, that’s where a government must intervene.”

Following the decision, Brusselmans told the Belgian news service VRT that he wasn’t sure if he would make similar statements in the future.

“That is difficult to answer. I do not know what I will write in the future,” he said. “I write a column every week. I may adapt, I may not. But I am careful.”