SINGAPORE, March 25, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Singapore made the Israeli embassy in 
the city-state take down an "insensitive" social media post about the 
Palestinians over the weekend after warning it could inflame tensions, the 
interior minister said Monday.

The Israel-Hamas war and deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza since the 
militants' unprecedented attacks on October 7 have divided opinion across the 
world.

The post reportedly said Israel was mentioned 43 times in the Koran but 
Palestine -- the name Palestinians give to what they hope will become their 
independent, sovereign state -- was not, according to local media.

Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam said he asked Singapore's foreign 
ministry to tell the Israeli embassy to remove the post made on Sunday after 
learning about it, which the mission immediately did.

"That post on the Israeli embassy social media page is completely 
unacceptable. I was very upset when I was told about it," Shanmugam told 
reporters, according to a transcript.

"It is insensitive and inappropriate. It carries the risk of undermining our 
safety, security and harmony in Singapore."

Shanmugam said the post had been taken down.

"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," he added.

The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment.

Singapore has condemned the Hamas attacks on Israel but has also said that 
Israel's military response "has now gone too far".

The post was apparently posted in the context of the war between Israel and 
Hamas, which began after militant attacks that resulted in about 1,160 deaths 
in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official 
Israeli figures.

Israel has vowed to destroy the militants, who also seized about 250 
hostages, of whom Israel believes around 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 
presumed dead.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Sunday put the total death 
toll in the territory at 32,226, most of them women and children.