Belgian Newspaper Fires Columnist Over Praise of Truck Ramming

YERUSHALAYIM

A pro-Hamas columnist was fired by the Belgian newspaper he worked for, after writing in praise of the truck-ramming terror attack that killed four Israelis on Sunday, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

De Standaard, a Flemish-language daily, terminated Dyab Abou Jahjah, a Lebanese-born writer from Belgium, after a storm of criticism from Jewish readers. He had written for the paper for three years.

They condemned Abou Jahjah’s appeal “By any means necessary, #freepalestine” following Sunday’s attack, and his insistence that it was “not terrorism but resistance.”

“Debate has borders and for us the border lies short of support of violence of any kind,” De Standaard said in an editorial announcing the dismissal.

The Forum of Jewish Organizations of Flemish Jews said in a statement Monday that it was “shocked” by Abou Jahjah’s remarks and called on “certain media offering him a platform” to stop publishing his writings.

The columnist has a history of making overtly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments.

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