02 March 2007
Following protests by Jewish groups, a major Belgian bookstore chain has stopped sales of a novel modeled on the anti-Semitic "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". The Brussels-based organization CEJI had called on the Relay Press Shop chain to stop carrying the book, which is a novelized version of the "Protocols." CEJI also called on the Belgian government to investigate the launch of the book, which partly blames the Holocaust on the United States and implicates Western states in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA. The book's authors, Belgians Patrick Henderickx and Patrice De Bruyne, claim that they added the full text of the "Protocols," so that readers could "reach their own judgment."
The "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is a 19th-century forgery. It describes a supposed Jewish plot to take over the world. Having served as a basis for subsequent anti-Semitism, its publication has been prohibited by many countries under incitement laws. CEJI called on the Belgian Center for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism to investigate and press charges against the authors on the grounds of incitement to hatred. While the prohibition of books is practically impossible under Belgian law, the authors of hateful literature can be prosecuted.
"The Protocols have been linked to many anti-Semitic incidents, and as such have been the cause of much harm," CEJI's director Robin Sclafani said, adding: "The fact that they resurface disguised as a novel is frightening. We hope the Belgian state will make clear that this work, which is banned in neighboring countries, is not welcome here either."
