Head of
online public diplomacy disparaged commemorations for victims of atomic bombs
on Facebook
theguardian.com,
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem, Thursday 22 August 2013
 |
| Daniel Seaman called Japan's commemorations for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims 'self-righteous'. Photograph: The Asahi Shimbun/The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Imag |
Israel has
been forced to issue a formal apology to Japan over offensive comments posted
on Facebook by its head of online public diplomacy.
The apology
followed a complaint by the Japanese ambassador to Israel, Hideo Sato, after
senior government official Daniel Seaman disparaged commemorations for the
victims of the 1945 atomic bombs, causing a wave of protests in Japan.
"I am
sick of the Japanese, 'Human Rights' and 'Peace' groups the world over holding
their annual self-righteous commemorations for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
victims," Seaman wrote on his Facebook page. "Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were the consequence of Japanese aggression. You reap what you sow ..."
According
to Haaretz, Israel's ambassador in Tokyo, Nissim Ben-Shitrit, was forced to
embark on a damage control exercise. "The incident is very slowly
subsiding, but it's too early to assess the damage to Israel's image that it caused," the Israeli embassy in Tokyo wrote in a cable to the foreign
ministry in Jerusalem.
The apology
was issued by Ya'akov Amidror, national security advisor to prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. A government official said the incident was "one of
the least comfortable moments for Israel in Japan".
Seaman, a
former director of the government press office who has a reputation for being
abrasive, recently took up a new post to promote positive images of Israel on
social media networks. He has since been suspended and is under orders not to
speak to the media.
The
comments about Japan were part of a string of strongly-worded postings by Seaman over recent months.
They
included a response to a demand by the Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb
Erekat, for an end to new settlement expansion that read: "Is there a
diplomatic way of saying 'Go F*** yourself'?"
At the
start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast between sunrise
and sunset, Seaman posted: "Does the commencement of the fast of the
Ramadan means [sic] that Muslims will stop eating each other during the
daytime?"
In response
to a Church of Scotland report that argued that Jews do not have a divine right
to the land, he wrote: "Why do they think we give a flying F*** what you
have to say?"
In a
statement last week, the National Information Directorate said: "Danny
Seaman's statements on Facebook are unacceptable and do not express the view of
the Israeli government. The directorate instructed Seaman to immediately
refrain from making such statements."
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