Israel and South Africa expel envoys in escalating dispute

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South Africa and Israel expelled each other’s top diplomats on Friday, the latest deterioration of relations between the two countries in the wake of Israel’s two-year war in Gaza.

The South African foreign ministry said it had declared Ariel Seidman, the chargé d’affaires of the Israeli embassy, persona non grata for the “repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch insulting attacks against” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

It also accused the Israeli mission of a “deliberate failure” to inform South Africa of visits by Israeli officials, which it described as a “gross abuse of diplomatic privilege and a fundamental breach of the Vienna Convention”, the treaty that regulates diplomatic activity.

Israel hit back, saying it would expel South Africa’s most senior diplomatic representative in the country, Shaun Edward Byneveldt, for Pretoria’s “false attacks against Israel in the international arena and the unilateral, baseless step” taken against Seidman.

Both countries gave the other’s representatives 72 hours to leave.

The expulsions are the latest in a series of clashes between the two countries since Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, during which militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took another 250 hostage.

South Africa has long been a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause, with officials often drawing parallels between its own history as an apartheid state and Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories — a charge Israel vehemently rejects.

In November 2023, South African lawmakers voted to close down the Israeli embassy, although the move was largely symbolic as the presidency declined to follow through.

Israel then recalled its ambassador, leaving Seidman as the mission’s most senior envoy.

South Africa in late 2023 brought a case at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s two-year offensive has killed more than 71,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.

One recent post on X from the Israeli embassy’s official account accused South Africa of having “thrown away” money on the case. “0 per cent of value for South Africans, 100 per cent political theatre,” it said.

Posts such as these were “a red line for South Africa”, said Ofentse Davhie, a researcher at the Johannesburg-based Centre for Risk Analysis, although the government did not directly reference them.

South Africa’s case has been backed by nearly 100 other countries, and a growing number of other groups — ranging from genocide scholars to human rights organisations — have made similar allegations against Israel.

Israel has vehemently denied committing genocide and called South Africa’s case “profoundly distorted”. Israeli officials have also repeatedly insisted the country was complying with international law in Gaza.

South Africa’s case has also caused diplomatic fallout with the US, with President Donald Trump citing it as one of several reasons for freezing aid to Africa’s biggest economy last year.

Leo Brent Bozell, who is expected to arrive as the US ambassador in South Africa in February, said during his confirmation hearing that convincing South Africa to drop its ICJ case would be one of his main priorities.