A Belgian satirist’s murderous fantasies about slitting Jewish throats has been cleared of all charges.

Herman Brusselmans sparked outrage last August when he published a controversial column in Belgian humor magazine HUMO during the early months of the Israel-Hamas war. The Flemish author, known for his provocative writing style, reflected on how the conflict stirred dramatic “mood swings” in his feelings toward Jews.

“For every Hamas or Hezbollah fighter who is killed by the shitty Israeli army, hundreds of innocent civilians are killed, and we can do nothing but keep repeating that many of them are children,” Brusselmans wrote in the now-retracted piece.

In another passage, Brusselmans wrote that when he saw images of a Palestinian boy screaming beneath rubble, he imagined his own family in the same situation and “became so enraged that I want to ram a pointed knife straight down the throat of every Jew I meet.” He also described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “small, fat, bald Jew,” and admitted wanting to “stab every Jew in the throat.”

Belgian authorities subsequently charged the 67-year-old with incitement to hatred and Holocaust denial. However, on Tuesday, the Criminal Court of Ghent ruled that Brusselmans’ violent antisemitic column falls under freedom of speech.

“The court acknowledges that members of the Jewish community may have been hurt by some of the statements, but emphasizes that the writer’s words are protected by the right to freedom of expression,” the court stated in its ruling.

“The texts do not show that the defendant wanted to incite hatred and violence against members of the Jewish community, or that he wanted to grossly minimize the Holocaust. He only wanted to present an opinion piece or a value judgment in his well-known writing style.”

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association, immediately condemned the decision.

“Today, the Belgian judicial system set a dangerous precedent: hate crime laws are flexible — and when it comes to Jews, they suddenly disappear,” Margolin said. “This ruling creates an unacceptable precedent — it effectively grants legitimacy to someone with an audience of hundreds of thousands to publicly call for the murder of Jews without facing any legal consequences.”

Several other legal proceedings against the writer related to the same column are reportedly still pending.