The Israeli embassy in South Korea has removed a video from its social media that shows masked attackers attacking South Korean civilians in Seoul, a reference to Hamas that the South Korean Foreign Ministry considers “inappropriate.”
“Hamas' killing and abduction of Israeli civilians is unjustifiable, but the Israeli embassy's production and distribution of a video drawing parallels to the security situation in another country was deemed inappropriate,” Seoul said in a statement sent to AFP Statement Thursday.
“We have communicated our position to the Israeli embassy in South Korea and they have taken steps to remove the video in question,” it said.
The incriminating video, no longer available on the Israeli Embassy's social media channels, shows the abduction of a South Korean woman by armed attackers who forcibly separated her from her infant daughter on Christmas Day, according to a broadcast broadcast by a local broadcaster Clip YTN.
The images included a caption recalling the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which, according to an AFP count, killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250 people and taken them to Gaza.
“Imagine if that happened to you. What would you have done?” asked the message in the description text.
YTN reported in a now-deleted social media message that Israel's ambassador to Seoul, Akiva Tor, justified the publication by saying it was to convey the risks of war to South Koreans who are “far from Israel.”
In retaliation for the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement, Israel vowed to “destroy” Hamas, shelling and besieging Palestinian territory and conducting a ground operation there since October 27.
According to the army, 129 of the hostages are still in Gaza. At the end of November, around a hundred people were released as part of a ceasefire in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Hamas' health ministry reported on Tuesday 21,110 dead and more than 55,243 injured since the Israeli bombing began, mostly civilians.
South Korea, Washington's ally, technically remains at war with North Korea because no peace treaty was concluded after the Korean War (1950-1953).