The World Jewish Congress hailed English soccer’s ruling body, the Football Association, for suspending and fining West Brom striker Nicolas Anelka for an alleged anti-Semitic gesture he made during a game late last year. “This suspension and fine show without a doubt that anti-Semitic, racist or ethnically derogatory gestures will not be tolerated in European soccer,” said WJC President Ronald S. Lauder. “The use of racist or anti-Semitic gestures or chants by European soccer players and crowds is a serious problem and brings shame on the continent.”
The Football Association suspended Anelka for five games and fined him the equivalent of $133,400 for employing the gesture, the “quenelle,” which has been called a kind of reverse Nazi salute. It was made popular by French comic Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, who’s been convicted repeatedly in France of violating hate-speech laws. French authorities recently banned his shows because of their anti-Semitic content. The association cited the quenelle’s ethnic, racial or religious connotations, according to a Bloomberg report. Anelka can appeal.