The French sports minister accused top French soccer player Nicolas Anelka of anti-Semitism and “disgusting” behavior on Saturday night, hours after Anelka made what is regarded as a neo-Nazi-style, anti-Semitic salute to celebrate scoring a goal in the English Premier League. The “quenelle” signal is rapidly spreading among anti-Semites in Europe and is being used by individuals to fly under the radar of strict anti-hate speech laws in parts of the continent. The signal, extending one’s right hand toward the ground while the left hand grasps the shoulder, was devised by Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a controversial French comedian who has been condemned in court several times for anti-Semitic remarks. “Anelka’s gesture is a shocking, disgusting provocation. There’s no place for anti-Semitism and incitement to hatred on the soccer field,” said the French sports minister, Valerie Fourneyron, in a tweet.
Over the past two months, the “quenelle” trend has gained popularity, prompting hundreds of Europeans to post pictures of themselves online performing the heil-like salute. Many of the images were taken at sensitive sites such as in the Auschwitz concentration camp, the Anne Frank House and even the Western Wall. Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said it was “sickening that such a well-known footballer would make such an abusive and hateful gesture in front of tens of thousands of spectators.” “This salute is merely a lesser-known Nazi salute and we expect the same kind of punishment to be handed down by the authorities as if Anelka had made the infamous outstretched arm salute. “This salute was created by a well-known extreme anti-Semite who has displayed his hatred of Jews, mocked the Holocaust and Jewish suffering.” Use of the “quenelle” is “gaining more and more momentum, is very pervasive on the internet and social networks, and is increasingly becoming a symbol of the Nazi regime, and does not look like a passing phenomenon,” Yaakov Hagouel, the Head of the World Zionist Organization’s Department for Combating Antisemitism, told Hebrew website Ynet earlier this month.
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