Singapore Orders Israel To Remove Online Post

Singapore has ordered the Israel Embassy to take down an “insensitive and inappropriate” social media post that could undermine security in the city-state, in the latest test of traditionally warm ties between the two nations, Philip J. Heijmans reported for Bloomberg News.

Home Minister K. Shanmugam described the post as "unacceptable." I Photo: K Shanmugam Sc

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the embassy compared mentions of Israel and Palestine in the Koran, adding that documents and maps “link the land of Israel to the Jewish people as the indigenous people of the land.”

The post has since been removed.

“That post, on the Israeli embassy social media page, is completely unacceptable,” Home Minister K. Shanmugam told reporters on Monday. Posts like these can “inflame tensions and can put the Jewish community here at risk. The anger from the post can potentially spill over into the physical realm.”

While Singapore is made up of an ethnic Chinese majority, the multi-racial nation is home to a considerable number of Malays who are Muslim.

It also has neighboring Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia and Malaysia that have seen protests in support of the Palestinian cause. Singapore has laws against domestic threats and foreign influence to help maintain the country’s racial and religious harmony.

WEEKLY FEATURE : Jose Mari Chan And The Christmas Anthem