Anchor: A video posted by the Israeli Embassy in Seoul intended to drum up sympathy has sparked backlash in South Korea. The video depicting a terror attack akin to the Hamas insurgency on October 7 was eventually taken down by the diplomatic mission.
Tom McCarthy reviews the incident.

Report: A video posted by the Israeli Embassy in South Korea depicting a terror attack in the host country was quickly taken down after triggering controversy.

Posted to its social media on Tuesday, the video created by the diplomatic mission shows a mother and daughter at a school before an emergency alert goes off and the building is hit by airstrikes.

The pair are unable to hide before armed assailants kidnap the mother. The video ends with the only trace of the daughter, her gloves on the ground giving way to the words, “Imagine if it happened to you. What would you do?”

The video was intended to rouse sympathy for Israel, whose citizens suffered a guerrilla attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7 that was met with an all-out military retaliation from Israel.

A day after it was released, however, the South Korean government requested that it be taken down.

A foreign ministry official told reporters that while Seoul condemns the attack by Hamas, it takes exception to the incorrect portrayal of South Korea’s security readiness and defense capabilities.

The video closely resembles another production by the Israeli government, with the country’s mission in Britain uploading a terror scenario in London that has been viewed over two million times and has not met with a request for removal. 
Tom McCarthy, KBS WORLD Radio News.