Israel retaliated on Friday, expelling South Africa's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
In what appears to be a tit for tat, Israel has now declared South Africa’s senior diplomatic representative in that country persona non grata and given him 72 hours to leave.
This comes after the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) on Friday declared Ariel Seidman, the chargé d’affaires at the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria, persona non grata. Dirco ordered him to leave the country within 72 hours after accusing him of violations that challenge South Africa’s sovereignty.
Violations
Dirco spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said the “decisive measure” followed a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice, which pose a direct challenge to South Africa’s sovereignty.
“These violations include the repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch insulting attacks against President Cyril Ramaphosa, and a deliberate failure to inform Dirco of purported visits by senior Israeli officials,” Phiri said.
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Israel responds
A short while later, the Israeli Foreign Ministry took its own action against South Africa.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar decided – 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.
“Additional steps will be considered in due course,” the ministry said.
Byneveldt is South Africa’s ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
Byneveldt ambassador to Palestine
Phiri responded to Tel Aviv’s decision to declare Byneveldt persona non grata.
“Mr Shaun Byneveldt is the ambassador to the State of Palestine, not Israel. Israel’s obstructionism forces a farcical arrangement where he is accredited through the very state that occupies his host country. This underscores Israel’s refusal to honour international consensus on Palestinian statehood.”
Relations between Pretoria and Tel Aviv deteriorated after Israel launched military attacks on Gaza after Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attacks.
Ambassadors
In November 2023, South Africa withdrew its diplomats, while Israel’s Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador to South Africa, Eliav Belotserkovsky, for consultations.
The move to recall Belotserkovsky came after he was démarched by government over his remarks about the Palestine conflict.
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ICJ
South Africa also hauled Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in December 2023 to declare Israel’s killing of Palestinians as genocide.
In its initial application, South Africa submitted an 84-page application at the ICJ on 29 December 2023, pleading with the court to find Israel guilty of genocide and order it to, among other things, halt its invasion of Gaza.
Since launching the case at the ICJ, South Africa has approached the court four times, requesting interim measures to halt Tel Aviv’s attacks on the occupied territory.
Despite three orders being granted in South Africa’s favour, they have had little to no impact on halting Israel’s attacks or in forcing essential services and humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In September last year, International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said Pretoria was committed to seeing the country’s case against Israel in the ICJ through to its conclusion.
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