South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday said Israel had failed to “reflect” on accusations of misconduct by its forces, following Israeli criticism that he had amplified what it called online disinformation.
The dispute began earlier this week when Lee shared a video on social media with a caption claiming it showed Israeli soldiers torturing a Palestinian child and pushing the child off a roof. “I need to look into whether this is true, and if so, what measures have been taken,” Lee said Friday on X, reports AFP from Seoul.
AFP was unable to immediately verify the origin of the video, which has been widely circulated online. However, the footage appeared to show a different angle of an incident filmed by AFPTV in the West Bank two years ago, in which an Israeli soldier used his foot to push the body of a dead adult man off a roof.
In 2024, the White House described that footage as “deeply disturbing” and said it had sought an explanation from Israel amid intensified military operations in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
On Saturday, Israel’s foreign ministry said the incident had already been “investigated and addressed.” In a social media statement, the ministry said Lee had “chosen to dig up a story from 2024 and to cite a fake account that falsely presented it as a current event,” adding that the account was “notorious for spreading anti-Israeli disinformation.”
South Korea’s foreign ministry tried to lower tensions, saying Lee’s post — which drew parallels between the alleged Israeli actions and historical atrocities against Jews and Koreans — was meant as a call to “universal human rights rather than an opinion on any specific issue.”
But Lee returned to social media later Saturday, commenting on a news article about Israel’s backlash. “It’s disappointing that you don’t even once reflect on the criticisms from people around the world who are suffering and struggling due to relentless anti-human rights and anti-international law actions,” he wrote. “When I am in pain, others feel that pain just as deeply.”
South Korea, an ally of Israel’s main backer, the United States, has generally tried to keep a balanced stance on Middle East conflicts, without openly backing either side.
