Dismissal proceedings have been launched against a Belgian police officer identified as Mohamed N. who said on Facebook that he would kill “each and every Jew.”

The mayor of Molenbeek, Belgium, Françoise Schepmans, already has initiated the dismissal proceedings, the French-language daily Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported on Saturday.

Molenbeek is located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium.

Antisemitism Notebook

Your weekly guide through the news and the noise of how rising antisemitism and disputes over how to address it are shaping American Jewish life.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“The word Jew itself is dirty. If I were in Israel, frankly, I would do to the Jews what they do with the Palestinians — slaughter each and every one of them,” said the police officer, who used the moniker Bebeto Gladiateur in a Facebook thread discussing the Armenian genocide. The officer kept trying to divert the thread to a discussion about the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, though he was continuously reprimanded for his attempts by the members of the thread.

The officer claims his Facebook account was hacked, and later it was deleted.

“His words shocked me. I’ve never been ambiguous on this issue. I can tolerate such attitude of a municipal officer,” Molenbeek’s Mayor Françoise Schepmans told Le Soir.

Meanwhile, the website of the Brussels-based Contemporary Memory Foundation , which studies the history of Jews and Judaism in Belgium in the twentieth century, was hacked Friday by hackers claiming to be from the Islamic State.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount