Jewish Money, Sport and Elementary Freedoms
Gilad Atzmon ■ The Guardian reported this weekend that the “West Bromwich Albion's sponsor, Zoopla, has told the club to drop Nicolas Anelka over his quenelle gesture or risk their lucrative shirt deal being scrapped.” Zoopla, a property website company, owned by the Jewish businessman Alex Chesterman, said Anelka must be dropped for Monday's Premier League home game against Everton and has told the club it will want its name removed from the team's shirts immediately if he plays. The Jewish owned company “is understood to have been left stunned by the decision to keep Anelka in the team while the FA investigation continues.” I guess that the message here is clear. Jewish money, philanthropy and endorsement come with a price tag. The beneficiary is expected to subscribe to Jewish politics and interests while being extremely attentive to Jewish sensitivities. Yet I am slightly perplexed. How anyone can interpret Anelka’s anti- establishment quenelle as an ‘anti-Semitic gesture’ is beyond me. Was the goalkeeper a Jew? Maybe the goal frame reminded Anelka of a synagogue or the Israeli Knesset. One may suggest then that, by hitting the net, Anelka symbolically brought destruction on the Jewish people and their state. These question are indeed fascinating. But even before the FA comes up with its final verdict, we can already agree that it doesn’t take much to offend our Jewish paymasters.