The Criminal Court of Ghent on Tuesday ruled that Flemish best-selling author Herman Brusselmans was not guilty of antisemitism and incitement to hatred despite his statements that he wants to kill every Jew over the war in Gaza.

In a column published in a Belgian magazine last summer, Brusselmans wrote that when he saw an image of the destruction in Gaza, he “became so enraged that I want to ram a pointed knife straight down the throat of every Jew I meet.”

The court ruled that Brusselman’s “expressions of opinion are protected by the right to freedom of expression” as set out by the Belgian constitution.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, president of the European Jewish Association (EJA), slammed the verdict, calling it “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.

“This ruling effectively legitimizes a person, read by hundreds of thousands, to openly call for the murder of Jews without facing any legal consequences. It deems it permissible to publish in a national media outlet the desire to ‘stab a knife into the throat of every Jew encountered,’ all under the pretext of anger over the situation in Gaza.”

“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.”

Michel Kotek, chairman of the Jewish Information and Documentation Center, which filed the claim against Brusselmans, called the ruling “a disgrace to Belgian jurisprudence.”

“Someone who has been making such statements since 1993 – we are no longer talking about an incident. This is a constant repetition of moves in which antisemitic statements predominate.”

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

Brusselmans still faces further court hearings on additional complaints filed over his column, including a claim filed by three Holocaust survivors that he violated Belgium’s anti-racism and negationism laws.

Jewish organizations have also filed a civil case against Brusselman, saying that his statements are fuel for antisemitism and hostility toward Belgian Jews.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)