South Africa accuses Israeli representative of ‘gross abuse of diplomatic privilege’ as Israel orders reciprocal move.

South Africa is expelling Israel’s envoy to the country, the foreign affairs ministry announced, accusing the Israeli official of engaging in “unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms” that challenge South African sovereignty.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation said on Friday that it was giving Ariel Seidman, the charge d’affaires at the Israeli embassy, 72 hours to leave South Africa after declaring him persona non grata.

It accused Seidman of launching “insulting attacks” against South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on social media as well as “a deliberate failure” to inform the ministry “of purported visits by senior Israeli officials”.

“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,” the department said in a statement.

“We urge the Israeli Government to ensure its future diplomatic conduct demonstrates respect for the Republic and the established principles of international engagement.”

The announcement drew a rapid response from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said it had declared senior South African diplomat, Shaun Edward Byneveldt, persona non grata and was giving him 72 hours to leave the country.

“Additional steps will be considered in due course,” the Israeli ministry said in a statement shared on social media.

Byneveldt is South Africa’s ambassador to the State of Palestine, working out of an office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to a South African government website.

Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry, said “Israel’s obstructionism forces a farcical arrangement where [Byneveldt] is accredited through the very state that occupies his host country”.

“This underscores Israel’s refusal to honour international consensus on Palestinian statehood,” Phiri wrote on X.

Genocide case

The tit-for-tat diplomatic moves come as tensions have soared between South Africa and Israel for months over Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in late December 2023, accusing Israel of committing genocide in the bombarded territory.

“South Africa is gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants,” the country said at the time.

United Nations experts and the world’s top human rights groups have also alleged Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed at least 71,660 people since October 2023 and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.

South African activists also have drawn the ire of Israeli officials for accusing Israel of maintaining a system of apartheid in its treatment of Palestinians – similar to the one that existed in South Africa for decades.

The UN’s human rights chief said earlier this month that Israel maintains “a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before”.

On Friday, Economic Freedom Fighters, a South African opposition party, welcomed the government’s decision to declare Israel’s envoy as persona non grata.

“From its repeated violations of United Nations resolutions, to its open defiance of international courts, to its brazen attacks on diplomats, journalists, humanitarian workers and civilians in Palestine and beyond, Israel has established itself as a rogue state that relies on intimidation and provocation rather than mutual respect,” it said.

The party urged South Africa to “continue to take bold, principled positions against apartheid Israel”, including by severing all diplomatic and economic ties with the country.