Israel’s ambassador to Japan on Thursday condemned a social media post shared by a senior Chinese diplomat that equated Israel with Nazi Germany.
“This shameful incitement to use Nazi symbols to condemn Israel is not only highly disgraceful, but also anti-Semitic, dangerous and a grave insult to the memory of the Holocaust,” wrote the ambassador, Gilad Cohen, on X.
He was reacting to the June 14 post on X by Xue Jian, the consul general of China in Osaka, which he later removed, which featured a table with two columns, Israel and Nazi Germany, and characteristics that the table’s creator suggested the two entities shared.
The characteristics included: “The Nazis persecuted Jews / The Jews persecute; We are a sacred, chosen people; Invest most of their national resources in the military; Ignore international law; settle on conquered lands.” The final lane read: “”America is the enemy” for Nazi Germany and “America is an ATM” for Israel.
In his statement, Cohen wrote: “I strongly urge the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take immediate and decisive action. Antisemitism and incitement to hatred have no place in Japan.”
The Chinese embassy in Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the issue.
Xue’s post came one day after Israel struck Iranian regime targets, triggering an ongoing conflict that escalated on Sunday when the United States bombed three Iranian nuclear program sites. Israel has been pummelling Iran, mostly with its air force, since June 13. Iran has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, killing at least two dozen people.
Xue has a history of making inflammatory remarks on social media. Earlier this year, he wrote on X: “Taiwan independence = war. I’ll be clear! There is zero room for compromise in China!!!”
The statement prompted criticism in Japan, including by lawmaker Jin Matsubara, who called it “outrageous” in a statement, adding, “Such intimidation is absolutely unacceptable.”
The outbreak of war between Israel and Iranian proxies in October 2023 added tension to the already-strained China-Israel relationship.
Last month, Israel’s minister of innovation, science and technology, Gila Gamliel, acknowledged this, noting in a speech at a conference in Tel Aviv on Israeli-Chinese relations that Beijing has “closer ties with Iran” and that the U.S. views China as a “strategic threat.”
China is the largest single exporter to Israel, which imported $14 billion in Chinese goods in 2024, compared to $9 billion from the U.S.
Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has sought global dominance through economic, political, military and technological means. It claims more than 90% of the South China Sea, where it has constructed artificial islands with military bases in contested waters, triggering tensions with the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
China dismantled Hong Kong’s autonomy after the 2019 democracy protests by imposing a sweeping National Security Law. It continues to escalate threats against Taiwan with military and cyber pressure.
Although robust, Israel’s commerce with China has fluctuated. A sharp 18% decline in 2023 followed the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, amid broader geopolitical instability in Israel and a drop in Chinese exports to the West, according to Tomer Fadlon of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.
China has hardened its rhetoric against Israel since the outbreak of the current Gaza war and the subsequent regional escalations involving Iran, the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah and militias in Syria.
In May, China’s ambassador to the U.N., Geng Shuang, attended a Nakba Day commemoration—an annual event marking what Palestinians call the “catastrophe” of Israel’s creation. Chinese officials have since claimed that Israel’s actions in Gaza “could constitute war crimes.”