South Korean president’s Holocaust remarks spark Israel outcry
Lee Jae Myung’s comparing military action against Palestinians to the Holocaust comes as Israel remembers the 6 million Jews killed by Nazis
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sparked a diplomatic row with Israel and criticism at home after comparing Israeli military actions against Palestinians to the Holocaust in a social media post.
The controversy began on Friday after Lee said “wartime killings” by the Israel Defence Forces were “no different from the Jewish massacre” by the Nazis in World War II and reposted footage with a caption that said it showed Israeli troops had tortured and thrown a Palestinian from the roof of a building.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a social media post on Saturday that Lee “for some strange reason, chose to dig up a story from 2024”.
It said the incident occurred during an IDF operation against what it called “terrorists” and had been thoroughly investigated.
The ministry accused Lee, who had said that he needed to verify the footage, of the “trivialisation of the massacre of Jews on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel”, saying his remarks were “unacceptable and warrant strong condemnation”.
Israel marks Yom HaShoah on Monday remembering the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.