Belgian writer Dimitri Verhulst. Photo: Michiel Hendryckx via Wikicommons.

A police complaint was filed against a Belgian columnist after he referred to Jews as “ugly,” derided the Jewish concept of chosenness, and accused Israel of “murdering” thousands of Palestinians in a July 27 article.

According to JTA, Dimitri Verhulst wrote in the leftist newspaper De Morgen that “Being Jewish is not a religion, no God would give creatures such an ugly nose.”

He claimed that this was a quote by Jewish-French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, but Gainsbourg in fact made no reference to “creatures” or used the word “ugly.”

Verhulst also said, “Because God has His favorites and they have their privileges, Palestinians were driven out of their homes in 1948 to make place for God’s favorites.”

He further claimed that Israel has murdered 10,000 Palestinians since the year 2000 and that “talking to the Chosen is difficult.”

In 2016, Verhulst met with considerable controversy when he interviewed a Holocaust denier.

The umbrella Jewish organization of the Flemish region of Belgium called these claims “rabid antisemitism” and has filed a complaint against Verhulst.

The chief rabbi of the Netherlands, Binyomin Jacobs, also called the statements “pure antisemitism,” and professed concern that they were published in a respected daily.