South Africa expels Israeli chargé d’affaires over "insulting attacks"; Israel retaliates

South Africa declared Ariel Seidman, the chargé d’affaires at Israel’s embassy in Pretoria, persona non grata on Friday and ordered him to leave within 72 hours, saying official Israeli social media had launched "insulting attacks" on President Cyril Ramaphosa; within hours Israel expelled Shaun Edward Byneveldt, South Africa’s representative to Palestine, and ordered him to leave Israel within 72 hours.

South Africa’s department for international relations and cooperation (DIRCO) said in a statement that "This decisive measure follows a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct challenge to South Africa’s sovereignty." DIRCO said the violations included the repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch insulting attacks against His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, and a deliberate failure to inform DIRCO of purported visits by senior Israeli officials.

Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X: "Following South Africa’s false attacks against Israel in the international arena and the unilateral, baseless step taken against the Chargé d’Affaires of Israel in South Africa – that South Africa’s senior diplomatic representative, Minister Shaun Edward Byneveldt, is persona non grata and must leave Israel within 72 hours." The move comes against a backdrop of long-running tensions, including South Africa’s December 2023 case at the international court of justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

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