Israel-Gaza war has incensed much of South-East Asia, Singapore defence chief says

Aspen Security Forum rejigged agenda after attempted assassination of Donald Trump

Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen at a meeting with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon on Monday. AFP

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The Israel-Gaza war has stoked widespread anger across South-East Asia and “radicalised another generation”, Singapore's defence minister said at the opening of a US summit focused on addressing global security challenges.

Young people in particular are infuriated by the lack of serious political will to stop the conflict, Ng Eng Hen told the Aspen Security Forum.

“Across many countries, we've lost the young on this,” he said as the event, which opened on Tuesday evening.

“The young are, even in Singapore, particularly incensed about the violence and the fact that nothing is done to stop it.”

He noted that in Singapore, which is widely perceived to be free of serious crime, two young people, including a 14-year-old-boy, had recently been detained for making extremist threats.

“The problem is that you've radicalised another generation … in Gaza and elsewhere,” Mr Ng added.

Israel launched its war in Gaza immediately after Hamas and other militant groups attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 others hostage. In the more than nine months since, more than 38,700 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry.

“The retaliation, the retribution, by the [Israeli military], is painful for all of us, but the greater problem there is that it can expand beyond Gaza and Israel,” Mr Ng said, adding that the world can “ill-afford” another conflict.

The summit is expected to feature many discussions about China and its role in global trade, technology innovation and competition with the US, both militarily and economically.

When asked about the risk of a skirmish between the US and China in the South China Sea, where Beijing has laid out broad territorial claims and established new military bases, Mr Ng said such a reality would be “cataclysmic”.

The Aspen Security Forum, which takes place every summer in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, has this year had to hastily rejig its agenda following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Kim Cheatle, the head of the US Secret Service that is responsible for presidential candidates' security, pulled out, as did Alejandro Mayorkas, the head of homeland security.

Secret Service snipers killed Mr Trump's would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks on Saturday after he opened fire at the former president from a rooftop overlooking the rally in a fairground in Pennsylvania.

The FBI is investigating the incident and why authorities did not apprehend Crooks before he started shooting, as several rally-goers saw him on the roof and alerted police.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director William Burns and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan are all due to speak at the summit before it wraps up on Friday.