AEK Athens midfielder Giorgos Katidis raises his hand in a Nazi salute as he celebrates scoring the winning goal in a Greek league game against Veria. Source: AP
AS a Jew and a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, when I see a Nazi salute or anti-semitic graffiti, there's a deep sense of nausea and fear that sinks right to the pit of my stomach.
It makes me feel both vulnerable and disgusted.
But despite that, the swift reaction of Greece to impose a lifetime ban on a 20-year old soccer player for playing for his country for making a 'Nazi salute' has left me feeling a strong sense of discomfort.
Giorgos Katidis claims that he had no idea what the salute meant and has no political leanings, even Tweeting that he 'abhors fascism'.
If I was governing the Greek national soccer body, I would be examining his political background and activities to establish whether Katidis is active in these sorts of political circles and whether he likely knew the implications of what he was doing, because it is potentially plausible that a 20-year old might not know what the salute meant.
Let me be clear: I'm not saying that he didn't know, I have no idea what his political and educational background is, but I think the Greek authorities have jumped the gun and potentially overshot it.
When Mark Bosnich made a Nazi salute to the crowd at Tottenham Hotspur (a club with high Jewish membership) in 1996, complete with a resplendant Hitler-style moustache gesture, leaving absolutely no question that he knew what he was doing, he was fined 1000 pounds.
That punishment, in my view was lenient and absurd, but somewhere in between a life ban and a 1000-pound fine, there's an appropriate punishment here for this sort of vilification.
Nevertheless, Katidis was banned for life within 48 hours of the incident occuring – surely not enough time to establish whether or not the gesture was well-informed and intentional or just plain stupid.
Even if it was just ignorant stupidity it cannot go unpunished, but a lifetime ban would then surely seem extreme.
I would have thought a more constructive plan would be to use this incident for education, both of Katidis and of his peers – if he didn't understand what the gesture meant, they might not either and giving them some basic history lessons would seem a far more worthwhile endeavour.
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