Anelka is back in headlines again with controversial goal celebration

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December 30, 2013

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Anelka is back in headlines again with controversial goal celebration

Source: Agencies | December 30, 2013, Monday |

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Nicolas Anelka returned to the headlines. And, once again, the bad boy of French football grabbed the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

Anelka caused an outcry in his home country by celebrating a goal scored in the Premier League for his English club West Bromwich Albion on Saturday with a gesture viewed as being anti-Semitic and described by France’s Sports Minister as “disgusting.”

The scandal quickly widened as European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor asked the Premier League to ban Anelka.

The Football Association is considering opening an investigation.

“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,” Kantor said. “This salute was created by a well-known extreme anti-Semite who has displayed his hatred of Jews, mocked the Holocaust and Jewish suffering.”

The gesture, known as a “quenelle,” a traditional French dish, is often performed by French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala and described as an inverted Nazi salute. It involves pointing one straightened arm downward while touching that arm’s shoulder with the opposite hand.

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Anelka is back in headlines again with controversial goal celebration

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