Israel Expels South Africa’s Ambassador In Tit-for-Tat Diplomatic Row

Israel has expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the State of Palestine, Shaun Edward Byneveldt, in retaliation for South Africa’s earlier expulsion of Ariel Seidman, the Chargé d’Affaires at the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria.

Byneveldt’s posting to Palestine was accredited through Israel, as South Africa downgraded its embassy in Tel Aviv to a liaison office in 2019 and no longer maintains a full ambassador to Israel.

Since Palestine does not have universally recognised embassies, South Africa accredits its ambassador to Palestine via Israel.

The move is part of a long-standing pro-Palestinian stance by Pretoria.

According to a statement posted on Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs X page on Friday, Byneveldt was declared persona non grata and given 72 hours to leave the country. The statement reads:

“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 move by Israel was a tit-for-tat response. Earlier on Friday, Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), announced that Seidman had been given 72 hours to leave the country.

Phiri said the measure follows a series of unacceptable breaches of diplomatic norms, which he described as a direct challenge to South Africa’s sovereignty.

He added that these violations include the repeated use of official Israeli social media accounts to launch insulting attacks on President Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as a deliberate failure to inform DIRCO of purported visits by senior Israeli officials. Said Phiri:

“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.”

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