Anthony Rudiger is at the center of a seething row over alleged link to terrorism following his social media post on March 10, 2024.
Rudiger is a devout Muslim and had joined other Muslim faithfuls in observing Ramadan – a special month in Islam when Moslems fast and pray.
On his social media handle, the former Chelsea defender, donning his Muslim robe, knelt on a spread mat and raised the index finger of his right hand.
He captioned the post with a Ramadan greeting, “May the Almighty accept our fasting and prayers.”
A barrage of reactions trailed Rudiger’s Ramadan ritual in Germany. Renowned German journalist and BILD editor, Julian Reichelt took to his X handle (formerly Twitter) to link Anthony Rudiger’s Ramadan greeting to Islamic terrorist organizations.
The journalist called out German authorities for turning a blind eye to Anthony Rudiger’s provocative ‘Islamist’ gesture while observing Ramadan.
A translated version of Reichelt’s reaction reads;
“For everyone who doesn’t want to recognize Antonio Rüdiger’s Islamist greeting as an Islamist greeting: the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution calls this gesture the ‘IS finger’ and sees the index finger as a clear sign of Islamism.”
Anthony Rudiger reacts to islamist and terrorism links
As per the Mail, Rudiger had taken umbrage on Reichelt’s provocative tweet attributing his presumably sublime Ramadan ritual to Islamism and terrorism.
The report adds the LaLiga star has filed a complaint to German authorities for redress. German FA are also said to have fallen out with Reichelt’s tweet and have lodged a complaint to relevant authorities to that effect.
Rudiger’s complaint flags Reichelt’s comments as ‘insulting, inflammatory, and seditious’ while the German FA described it as ‘hate speech.’
Despite the reactionary prompts by Rudiger and his lawyers, including the German FA on Reichert’s tweet, the BILD reporter refused to spare the hints as he doubled down on Rudiger’s Ramadan greeting again on Monday, March 25.
Taking to his social media again, Reichelt added more salts to the injury saying Rudiger’s gesture – the lifting of the index finger of the right – was synonymous with what ‘ISIS’ and Islamist murderers used all over after slaining their victims.
Reichelt added Rudiger’s gesture was not an ‘innocent spiritual gesture’ but a symbolic gesture with a strong affinity to murderous Islamist traditions.
He also blasted German authorities for turning a blind eye to the gesture because Rudiger is an ‘important national team player,’ adding he (Reichert) will not be cowed or intimidated into submission.
“Anyone who poses like this in public is consciously showing the greeting of fanatics and not an innocent, spiritual gesture. It is a normalization of a terrible ideology that has already taken over far too much space in this country.
”Also and especially because it’s about a popular national player, you shouldn’t allow yourself to be intimidated. It is important to point out that this political ideology goes against everything that our values are.
‘The raised index finger of Islamism, with which terrorists around the world celebrate their murders, does not belong to Germany. I will never let anyone stop me from saying that,” Reichert wrote on X.
Anthony Rudiger, who featured in Germany’s 2-0 friendly win against France in Lyon, will return to action again for the Die Mannschaft’s against Netherlands.
When asked about Reichelt’s tweet in Germany press conference ahead of the Netherlands friendly, the Real Madrid defender refused to comment.
Reichelt’s high-flown opinion on Anthony Rudiger’s Ramadan ritual delineates inherent prejudice and bias in sections of German mainstream media against Islam.
