South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ignited a diplomatic firestorm on April 10 when he shared a video on X from a pro-Palestinian account alleging that Israeli soldiers “tortured a Palestinian kid and threw him off a roof.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a sharp rebuke, accusing him of trivializing the Holocaust on the eve of Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
What Lee Shared — and What Actually Happened#
The video Lee reposted was originally published by the X user “Jvnior,” an account known for anti-Israel content that has been repeatedly flagged by the platform’s Community Notes feature for spreading misleading claims.
The footage is real but the caption was not. It does not show a child being tortured. The video depicts an incident from September 19, 2024 in the town of Qabatiya, near Jenin in the West Bank. According to Ynet’s original reporting, IDF special forces raided a building targeting armed militants. Four armed men on the rooftop opened fire on the soldiers, who returned fire and killed them. After the operation concluded, soldiers were filmed pushing the bodies off the roof — with one soldier kicking a body before it fell.
The IDF spokesperson called it at the time “a serious incident that is inconsistent with IDF values” and launched an investigation. Channel 13 corroborated that account. White House spokesman John Kirby described the footage as “deeply disturbing” and the conduct as “despicable and unacceptable.”
Lee’s Remarks and the Comfort Women Comparison#
In his initial post, Lee wrote that he needed to verify the video’s authenticity and assess what actions were taken. But he then drew an explosive historical parallel:
“Wartime homicide is no different from matters that we take issue with, such as the forced [enslavement of] comfort women, and the massacre of Jewish people.”
The comparison to comfort women — Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II — carries immense weight in East Asia. It is a defining trauma for Korea and remains a live diplomatic wound between Seoul and Tokyo. Lee was effectively connecting one of Korea’s deepest historical grievances to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a follow-up post, Lee acknowledged the incident involved a corpse rather than a living person, calling this “a small mercy, if one can call it that.” He stressed that international humanitarian law must be upheld and that human dignity is “non-negotiable.”
Israel Responds with Fury#
Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a blistering statement on X, calling Lee’s remarks “unacceptable” and deserving of “strong condemnation.”
The ministry said Lee had relied on a “fake account” known for spreading “anti-Israeli disinformation” and had revived an incident from 2024 that was already “thoroughly investigated and addressed.” It accused him of trivializing the massacre of Jews — pointedly noting the timing on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The statement added that during the original incident, soldiers were facing “direct and immediate threats to their lives,” and asked why Lee had said nothing about “the terrorists who were at the center of this event” or about “recent Iranian and Hezbollah terror attacks against Israeli citizens.”
According to Times of Israel coverage, the diplomatic language was unusually harsh for a bilateral relationship that has generally been cordial.
Lee Doubles Down#
Lee did not back down. In a subsequent post responding to Israel’s criticism, he expressed disappointment that Israel “has not once reflected on the global community’s criticism of its relentless inhumane and internationally unlawful actions, which have caused immense suffering.”
He added: “For the sake of universal human rights and the national interests of the Republic of Korea, I must work harder to find things I can do.”
Political Context#
Lee Jae Myung took office as South Korea’s president following the dramatic implosion of his predecessor, Yoon Suk-yeol. In December 2024, Yoon attempted to impose martial law, was impeached by parliament, and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison in February 2026.
Lee, a progressive opposition leader who survived a stabbing attack in 2024, has signaled a foreign policy recalibration. His willingness to publicly challenge Israel — and to invoke the comfort women framework — suggests South Korea under his leadership may take a more vocal stance on human rights issues in the Middle East.
For the Asian communities in Israel, this diplomatic clash is a reminder of how the conflict reverberates through East Asian politics and collective memory, linking historical traumas from Japanese colonialism to present-day events in the region.
A Note on Sources#
This story was widely covered in English by Turkish state news agency Anadolu (AA), which provided the most detailed initial reports. Readers should be aware that AA operates under President Erdoğan’s government and has been documented as systematically echoing Ankara’s pro-Hamas narrative. Turkey openly hosts Hamas leaders and frames the group as a “resistance movement.” AA’s framing in this case notably omitted context about the militants firing at soldiers. Hebrew-language coverage of Lee’s post also appeared on Yaffa News Network, a self-described Palestinian media outlet that covers “occupied Palestine” and consistently frames its reporting from a Palestinian perspective. This article relies primarily on Kan News, Times of Israel, Ynet, Korea Herald, and Korea JoongAng Daily for balanced reporting.
