Monotheist: Central defender Rüdiger, like the prophet, testifies to the “unity of God”. Image: dpa
National player Antonio Rüdiger is linked to IS because of a finger-pointing. The Tauhid gesture has corresponded to the Christian ritual of the cross for 1,400 years. But he made himself vulnerable.
Julian Reichelt stepped up his game after the German national soccer player Antonio Rüdiger filed a criminal complaint against the former editor-in-chief of the “Bild” newspaper for insult, slander and incitement and was supported by the German Football Association. Reichelt accused the two of “intimidation methods” and reiterated his original criticism of the photo that Rüdiger published on Instagram on March 11th. He accused the practicing Muslim Rüdiger of having spread a symbol with which terrorists around the world celebrated their murders.
Anyone who poses like this in public is “consciously showing the greeting of fanatics and not an innocent, spiritual gesture,” says Reichelt, who now works for a right-wing populist online portal. This gesture has ultimately been “completely co-opted by terrorists over the last two decades”. Therefore, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and its state offices “interpreted the raised finger as a sign of Islamist radicalization,” claims Reichelt.
