South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung has sparked a rare and very public diplomatic row with Israel after sharing a video on social media showing Israeli soldiers pushing a body off a building in the occupied West Bank. The footage, which dates back to September 2024, was posted by Lee on X on Friday alongside pointed remarks that have rattled diplomatic relations between the two nations — a partnership that spans more than 60 years.
In his post, Lee questioned whether the incident was authentic and called for accountability, writing: “We need to check if this is true, and if it is, we should find out what measures were taken.” But it was his broader framing of the issue that truly ignited the firestorm. Lee drew a direct comparison between wartime killings, the Holocaust, and the sexual enslavement of Korean women under Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945 — arguing there was “no difference” between these atrocities.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry wasted no time firing back. In a post on X the following day, the ministry labelled Lee’s remarks “unacceptable” and issued a sharp rebuke, stating that his comments amounted to a trivialisation of the Holocaust — and that this had occurred on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, making the timing all the more inflammatory. The ministry also pushed back on the framing of the video, accusing Lee of digging up an old story and citing what it described as a “fake account” that misrepresented the footage as a current event.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident had occurred during a military operation in which soldiers were said to be “facing direct and immediate threats to their lives”, and insisted it had been “thoroughly investigated and addressed two years ago.” The ministry’s post ended with a pointed swipe at Lee: “Mr. President, it’s always better to check before posting.”
South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung Refuses to Back Down Over Israeli West Bank Video
What Israel may not have anticipated was that Lee had, in fact, already pre-empted that criticism. Before the ministry’s response even landed, the South Korean president had posted a follow-up clarification, noting that the footage was a verified real event from September 2024 — one that had been condemned by the United States at the time. He stood firm on his core message, writing that “international humanitarian law must be abided by under any circumstances, and human dignity must also be kept as an irreconcilable top priority value.”
The original video, as we understand it, was filmed by residents of Qabatya, near Jenin in the occupied West Bank. It showed Israeli soldiers apparently discarding what appeared to be lifeless bodies from a building on 19 September 2024. The IDF, on that same day, confirmed it had killed four militants in a so-called “counterterrorism operation” in the area. When pressed about the footage at the time, the Israeli military itself admitted it depicted “a serious incident that does not coincide with IDF values.”
Under international humanitarian law, militaries are obligated to treat the remains of enemy combatants with dignity and return them to their families — a legal standard that critics say was clearly violated. A Palestinian politician at the time described the soldiers’ conduct as “barbaric.”
What makes this diplomatic spat particularly notable is how unusual it is in the context of East Asian politics. While European governments have been increasingly vocal in their criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and Lebanon, East Asian leaders have largely stayed quiet. South Korea, in particular, has historically maintained warm ties with Israel. Lee’s willingness to wade in so publicly — and so bluntly — marks a significant shift in tone.
Rather than retreat, Lee doubled down over the weekend. On Saturday, he shared coverage of Israel’s response without directly addressing the ministry’s rebuke, and instead wrote: “It’s disappointing that one does not even once reflect on the criticisms from the people around the world.” He added: “When I am in pain, others feel that pain just as deeply.”
Seoul’s Foreign Ministry appeared to move in to soften the blow a few hours later, expressing regret that Israel had “misunderstood the intent” of the president’s remarks. The ministry framed Lee’s comments as “an expression of his convictions regarding universal human rights” rather than a direct political stance on the conflict — and reiterated South Korea’s “profound condolences” to Holocaust victims.
But by Sunday, Lee was posting again. “The sovereignty of each country and universal human rights must be respected, and aggressive war must be denied,” he wrote. He closed with what read as a direct message to Jerusalem: “Respect must be earned through respect.” Israel had not responded to that latest post at the time of publication.
What began as a social media share has evolved into a fully-fledged diplomatic incident — one that signals a growing global willingness to hold Israel publicly accountable, even among allies who have traditionally stayed in the background. Whether this marks a lasting shift in Seoul’s foreign policy posture or a flash point that fades quietly remains to be seen, but Lee Jae Myung has made his position unmistakably clear, and the world is watching how both governments navigate what comes next.