A recent column in the Flemish weekly Humo by author Herman Brusselmans exceeded all red lines. His trademark is no doubt to insult, using obscenities from his literary toolbox. And Humo turns out to be the magazine par excellence for readers who appreciate his language. What is less well known is that it was not the first time that Brusselmans voiced antisemitic prejudices.
In 2023, shortly after the murderous terrorist attack on 7 October against Israel, he wrote in Humo: "The often-made link with the fate of the Jews themselves, who were mercilessly exterminated in the Second World War, has since long disappeared.” He added: "Israel uses the same methods to destroy an entire race as the Germans did at the time."
His explanation of the fact that the US - at least in Brusselmans' eyes - unreservedly supports Israel is pure antisemitism in the style of the notorious fabricated ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’. "The super companies are in the hands of Israelis, the big banks, the secret services, the real estate assets and practically the entire culture."
The big difference is that Brusselmans then seemed to talk about Israelis as if it made his column less antisemitic. The original article ranted about the power of the Jews. After criticism, Humo replaced “Jews” by “Israelis” without further notice but kept the column.
His recent column (4 August) in Humo, where he expressed his heart's desire to "ram a sharp knife through the throat of every Jew I meet" was deleted on-line after some days but remained in the printed magazine.
The editors of Humo responded (16 August) with cowardly ambiguities about its handling of Brusselmans’ column. We made an error of judgment, according to the response. They added to the admission - probably under pressure from the advertisers of DGP Media - perfunctory atoning remarks such as: "There may have been confusion among people who are not familiar with the Humo universe.”
A low-water mark is that anyone who criticizes the Humo editors gets the full brunt of their response. It sounds like this: "If there is a call for hatred and violence, it is more likely to be by those firebrands than by Brusselmans." Can the editorial team explain why Brusselmans' conspiracy-inspired column from December 2023 is still online?
A friend sent me a message some time ago in which he noted that, "If Brusselmans had written this about Muslims, he would rightly and reasonably shit his pants with fear". The Humo editorial team would then operate in an “I am Charlie” mode from a guarded bunker. Not surprisingly, Brusselmans and Humo quickly slipped into a victim role:
"He is being threatened". A new strategy to swap perpetrator and victim that has not been in vogue for very long. "My grandfather was in the resistance," says Philip Dewinter. "I have Jewish friends," says Caroline Gennez. The reference to threats is recent, but it has not been possible to identify the nature of the threat, when it was made, let alone by whom.
It goes without saying that Brusselmans has supporters in his hometown of Ghent. The Jewish community in Ghent does not dare any longer to commemorate the Kristallnacht, the pogrom in November 1938 in Nazi-Germany. The Holocaust monument in Ghent has been damaged so often that there is now a fence with cameras around it. The city of Ghent publishes pro-Hamas positions on its website and announces it with great pride.
The fact that Humo and Brusselmans receive so much support after their mistaken assessments and antisemitic slip-ups is not a strange phenomenon. Antisemites derive their identity from each other. If they were to only look at themselves, they would inevitably be confronted with their own mediocrity.
