That animated gif could be recreated by importing a layered illustration with the character and the arms on separate layers then using the Puppet Pin to animate the movement.
Type Puppet Pin in the Search Help field at the top right corner of AE (or whatever puppet pin is in your language) and follow the links to view some tutorials on the subject. It's too complicated to explain in detail on this forum.
Here's a link in english: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/search/index.cfm?cat=support&term=puppet%20pin&loc=en_US&lr=e n_US&product=aftereffects