Singapore orders Israeli embassy to remove Facebook post about Palestine, Koran
- The embassy’s now-deleted posted claimed Israel is mentioned 43 times in the Islamic religious text, while ‘Palestine is not mentioned even once’
- Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam called the post ‘insensitive’, ‘inappropriate’ and an ‘astonishing attempt to rewrite history’
The post was “insensitive”, “inappropriate” and “completely unacceptable” as it carried the risk of undermining safety, security and harmony in Singapore, he said.
“I was very upset when I was told about it,” he told reporters on Monday. “And the Ministry of Home Affairs spoke with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday and said that the embassy has to take the post down immediately, and they have taken it down.”
The now-deleted posted on the Israeli embassy in Singapore Facebook page on Sunday stated: “Israel is mentioned 43 times in the Koran. On the other hand, Palestine is not mentioned even once.”
“This post is an astonishing attempt to rewrite history,” Shanmugam said. “The writer of the post should look at UN resolutions, see if Israel’s actions in the past few decades have been consistent with international law before trying to rewrite history.”
Calling the post “wrong at many levels”, Shanmugam said it could have inflamed tensions as the anger from the post could spill over to the physical realm, and endanger the Jewish community in Singapore.