South Africa expels Israel's high diplomat over insulting posts

[ad_1] CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa ordered Israel’s deputy ambassador to depart the nation inside 72 hours on Friday, accusing him of undermining relations between the nations with social media posts that insulted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and violating diplomatic protocols.

The South African International Ministry stated that it was expelling Ariel Seidman, the chargé d’affaires on the Israeli Embassy, and declared him persona non grata — a diplomatic time period indicating the particular person is now not welcome in a rustic.

Seidman is probably the most senior Israeli diplomatic determine in South Africa after Israel recalled its ambassador in 2023.

Hours later, Israel’s International Ministry stated on X that it was expelling a senior South African diplomat, Shaun Edward Byneveldt, in response and ordered him to depart Israel inside 72 hours.

Diplomatic relations between South Africa and Israel have been already severely strained after South Africa — a longtime supporter of the Palestinian people — accused Israel of genocide in opposition to Palestinians in Gaza in a case on the United Nations’ high courtroom.

Israel has strongly denied the allegations and accused South Africa of appearing because the authorized arm of the Palestinian militant group Hamas by bringing the extremely emotive case earlier than the Worldwide Court docket of Justice.

Seidman’s expulsion was prone to provoke a powerful response from the US, an in depth Israeli ally that below President Donald Trump has already been especially critical of South Africa .

The Trump administration has characterised South Africa as a supporter of Iran and Hamas and stated it's pursuing an anti-American foreign policy , which South Africa denies.

Final 12 months, Washington additionally expelled South Africa’s ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, over feedback he made concerning the Make America Nice Once more motion, which he stated was partly a response to a “supremacist intuition.”

The South African International Ministry stated expelling Seidman “follows a collection of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and observe which pose a direct problem to South Africa’s sovereignty.” It stated official Israeli social media platforms had been used to launch “insulting assaults” in opposition to Ramaphosa.

The ministry didn't give any particulars on the posts it referred to, and it wasn’t instantly clear what they contained.

The ministry additionally stated there had been a deliberate failure to tell South Africa of visits by Israeli officers. It additionally gave no extra element on that, however David Saranga, an official on the Israeli International Ministry tasked with selling Israel’s picture on social media, was in South Africa this week.

South Africa stated that it had knowledgeable the Israeli authorities of the choice to expel Seidman and urged it “to make sure its future diplomatic conduct demonstrates respect” for South Africa.

Some members of the Jewish neighborhood in South Africa criticized the choice to expel the diplomat. Karen Milner, the chairperson of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, stated it was “a drastic transfer” on the idea of “a number of tweets.”

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Related Press author Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

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AP Africa information: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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