And now... anti-Semitic GESTURES!

Until very recently, a quenelle was (only) a delicious Lyonnais dish consisting of creamed fish, chicken, or meat, sometimes combined with breadcrumbs, with a light egg binding, usually poached. Now, however, the word has acquired another meaning, which is drawing the ire of progressive thinkers and the PC police across Europe -- especially France.

As this article on the LePoint website explains, a quenelle is now a gesture, which they call "an ersatz Nazi salute".

Ersatz? Looks to Walt more like a reversed Nazi salute, with the arm extended downwards in an upside-down Sieg Heil manner. With your other arm -- I know you're already trying this at home -- you reach across your chest and touch your shoulder. Got it?

But what does it mean? Like many gestures, the quenelle is subject to interpretation. Wikipedia says the gesture was "invented" by a French "political activist and comedian" [= wiseacre. Ed.] named Dieudonné M'bala M'bala. [How French is that? Ed.]

His name (and the accompanying photo) suggest that M M'bala M'bala is a gentleman of the coloured persuasion. In the USA, it is not unknown for black "activists" to be strongly against Jews and Zionism. Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson, "the Rev" Al Sharpton and even the sainted Martin Lucifer King all made anti-Semitic statements [rants, surely. Ed.] at one time or another.

Da man (Dieudonné) says the quenelle is "an anti-establishment gesture," but critics -- and there are many! -- describe it as an expression of anti-Semitism -- an underhanded manner of expressing hatred for Jews without inviting legal prosecution. The negative intent of the gesture, they say, is further underlined by Dieudonné's history of anti-Semitic remarks and racial hatred convictions. Dieudonne was widely denounced for saying about Jewish journalist, Patrick Cohen: "When I hear Patrick Cohen speaking, I say to myself, you see, the gas chambers … too bad [they no longer exist]."

That's all ye know and all ye need to know.