South Africa Expels Israeli Ambassador
Israel Retaliates by Expelling South Africa’s Ambassador to Palestine
Declaring the Chargé d’Affaires of the Israeli embassy persona non grata on Friday, South Africa has given Ariel Seidman 72 hours to leave the country.
“This decisive measure follows a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct challenge to South Africa’s sovereignty,” said a media statement by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) on 30 January.
“These violations include 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.”
Accusing him of “a gross abuse of diplomatic privilege and a fundamental breach of the Vienna Convention,” and systematically undermining “the trust and protocols essential for bilateral relations”, the statement went on to add: “We urge the Israeli government to ensure its future diplomatic conduct demonstrates respect for the Republic and the established principles of international engagement.”
Israel, which South Africa had taken to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its genocide in Gaza, has in turn accused it of “false attacks against Israel in the international arena.”
In retaliation against South Africa’s expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to its country, Israel declared South African diplomat Shaun Byneveldt a persona non grata, who “must leave Israel within 72 hours.”
“Shaun Byneveldt is ambassador to the State of Palestine, not Israel.”
However, Byneveldt is neither in Israel nor is he an ambassador to Israel. South Africa, which has a long history of solidarity with Palestine, had already recalled its ambassador from Israel in 2018 when its occupation forces massacred civilians peacefully protesting at the Gaza border against the inauguration of the US embassy in occupied Jerusalem.
Announcing that the recalled ambassador will not be replaced, the South African government downgraded its Israeli embassy to a liaison office in 2019.
Four years later, when Israel started its genocide in Gaza in late 2023, the South African government recalled all its diplomats from this liaison office, as protests grew domestically, demanding all ties with Israel be severed.
Byneveldt, whom Israel is expelling, is South Africa’s ambassador to Palestine, and based in its capital Ramallah in the West Bank, under Israeli occupation since 1967. The ICJ has recognized the occupation as “illegal” and “unlawful”—a status reiterated in scores of UN resolutions.
Therefore, in international law, Israel has no authority to declare Byneveldt persona non grata. “Mr Shaun Byneveldt is ambassador to the State of Palestine, not Israel,” said Chrispin Phiri, the South African foreign ministry’s spokesperson.
Nevertheless, Israel has demanded that he leave the occupied Palestinian territory it considers as its own. “This underscores Israel’s refusal to honor international consensus on Palestinian statehood,” added Phiri.
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If only my Australia had a leadership with some backbone to call out Israel's ethnic "cleansing" of Gaza and the West Bank. Thank you for the clarifications about levels of diplomacy between South Africa and Palestine versus Israel, Pavan. I was ignorant of that history.