Home Minister Shanmugam said he was “very upset” when he learned of the news (File)
Singapore:
Singapore asked the Israeli embassy in Singapore to delete “insensitive” social media posts about Palestinians over the weekend, the home minister said on Monday, after warning it could escalate tensions.
Israel’s war with Hamas and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza since Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7 have divided opinions around the world.
According to local media reports, the post stated that Israel is mentioned 43 times in the Quran, but not the name of an independent and sovereign state that the Palestinians hope to become.
Home Minister Shanmugam said he asked Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to notify the Israeli embassy to remove Sunday’s post after learning of the incident, which the embassy immediately did.
“The post on the Israeli embassy’s social media page is completely unacceptable,” Shanmugam told reporters, according to the transcript. “I was very upset when I learned about it.”
“This is insensitive and inappropriate. It has the potential to undermine our safety, security and harmony in Singapore.”
Shanmugam said the post had been deleted.
“Posts like this… can escalate tensions and put the Jewish community at risk. The anger in the post could spill over into the real world,” he added.
The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment.
Singapore condemned Hamas attacks on Israel but said Israel’s military response “has now gone too far”.
The post was apparently made in the context of the war between Israel and Hamas, which comes after Hamas attacks killed about 1,160 people in Israel, including the majority, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Some were civilians).
Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas, which has also held about 250 hostages, of which Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, 33 of whom are presumed dead.
The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Sunday put the total death toll in the area at 32,226, mostly women and children.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
