The Israeli representative to Taiwan yesterday said her office would like to work with the Taiwanese government on education programs about the Holocaust, following the release by a military news agency of a photo featuring three students wearing Nazi army uniforms.
The photo, taken by the Ministry of National Defense’s Military News Agency, showed three students in World War II German Waffen SS uniforms with a person in a military camouflage uniform standing next to them doing a “V” sign. Beside them is also a member of the camp’s staff, who remained unidentified.
The caption says the three students, who had arrived at the ministry’s Armor Training Command and Armor School on Monday, were to register for a summer camp organized by the ministry. It described the students as “die-hard military enthusiasts” and avid players of survival games.
Photo courtesy of the Military News Agency
“We were shocked and saddened to see the photo as published and regret very much the publication and the fact it was not stopped by the Ministry of National Defense Press Office,” Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei chief Simona Halperin said in a statement.
“I am sure it was out of ignorance and not support or identification with the atrocities committed during the Holocaust by the Nazis,” she said.
Halperin said the incident was “a sad demonstration of how important is the inclusion of the Holocaust studies as part of the curriculum for all high-school students [here in Taiwan], as is done in more and more countries throughout the world following UN General Assembly Resolution 2005.”
The Israeli office is willing to partner with the relevant authorities in Taiwan to work on the appropriate educational programs that would help avoid such regretable incidents, she said.
The photo, which had appeared on the Yahoo News Web site on Monday, was removed after the Chinese-language United Evening News ran an article on the matter yesterday. It has also been removed from the news agency Web site.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) accused the ministry of being ignorant about Nazi history, saying it should apologize to Israel for “damaging friendship” between the countries and punish those responsible for negligence.
A ministry spokesman apologized on behalf of the military over the publication of the photograph.
Major General Lo Shao-ho (羅紹和) said he was disappointed by the “botched” decision by the Military News Agency to publish the photo on Monday.
“We would like to express our apologies to both the public and Israel,” Lo said, adding that the sentiment had also been conveyed to the Israeli office.
The three students “were probably not that clear about history,” Lo said, adding that they were apologetic and expressed regret after being informed of the controversy by the ministry.
Military News Agency editor-in-chief Tien Wen-hui (田文輝) also apologized on behalf of the agency and admitted there were errors in both the photo selection and review process.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS