South Africa has declared Israel’s top diplomat in the country “persona non grata”, and given him 72 hours to leave, the foreign ministry said Friday.
South Africa has a testy relationship with Israel, being a leading critic of its actions in Gaza and bringing a case before the UN’s top court in December 2023, arguing that its war in the Palestinian territory amounted to genocide.
The move against the charge d’affaires follows “a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct challenge to South Africa’s sovereignty,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
This included “the repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch insulting attacks” on President Cyril Ramaphosa, it said.
There had also been a “deliberate failure” by the embassy to inform the foreign ministry of purported visits by senior Israeli officials, the statement said.
“Such actions represent a gross abuse of diplomatic privilege and a fundamental breach of the Vienna Convention. They have systematically undermined the trust and protocols essential for bilateral relations,” it said.
