Vijeta Uniyal is an Indian entrepreneur based in Germany. He is founder of “Indian Friends of Israel”, an initiative of Indian Diaspora in Europe to promote friendship between India and Israel.
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4553/asian_immigrant_s_disgust_at_european_anti_semitism
With soccer star Nicolas Anelka in mind, the “quenelle” gesture popularized by French “performance artist” Dieudonné says something about anti-Semitism in Europe and why it should bother us, immigrants or not.
The case of French footballer Nicolas Anelka, his “celebratory” quenelle gesture and his subsequent curious defense has once again raised allegations and concerns over the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe.
The quenelle gesture which has been described by some as an inverted Nazi-style salute, has been popularized by the French comedian Dieudonné. Monsieur Dieudonné and his fans defend quenelle as an “anti-establishment” gesture and maintain that it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism.
The fact that Monsieur Dieudonné has been convicted seven times for his anti-Semitic utterances and may well be on the way to his eighth trial, this time for implying that a Jewish journalist belongs in a gas chamber, hasn’t deterred his supporters from keeping on making that claim.
Monsieur Dieudonné who considers himself as a performance artist does not draw his fan-base from the French Far-Right, but from the mainstream of French society, mainly educated, urban youth.
In the age of Social Media the quenelle gesture has gone viral throughout Europe with people sharing their photographs of joyfully giving quenelle salutes and occasionally with very disturbing backdrops, like the Auschwitz death camp, the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam or the Jewish school in Toulouse where a massacre took place in 2012.
The French Striker Nicolas Anelka has been quick to plead ignorance to the wider implications of his highly public gesture, so did NBA Star Tony Parker before him and other major or minor celebrities like him in the past.
The incident wIll hardly affect Mr. Anelka’s football career and most probably he will be let off with a proverbial slap on the wrist. Considering the nature of Social Media this infamous gesture too may fade away as just another seasonal fad.