South Africa tells Israel's ambassador to leave

""These violations include the repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch insulting attacks against His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa," the ministry said. The foreign ministry also accused Seidman of failing to inform South African authorities of "purported visits by senior Israeli officials." DIRCO went on to say that this constituted a "gross abuse of diplomatic privilege" and said it was in violation of the Vienna Convention. Israel's diplomatic mission in South Africa has not yet responded to the latest development."

"Ties between Israel and South Africa have been on a downward trajectory since it lodged a case of genocide with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for its actions in Gaza. Israel rejected the case saying it "makes a mockery" of what constitutes genocide. In 2023, South African lawmakers also voted in favor of shutting down the Israeli diplomatic mission in Pretoria and suspending all diplomatic relations because of the war in Gaza, a decision that was never implemented."

South Africa declared Israel's ambassador Ariel Seidman persona non grata and expelled him, giving 72 hours to leave. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation cited repeated violations of diplomatic norms that it said posed a direct challenge to South Africa's sovereignty. The ministry accused official Israeli social media of launching insulting attacks against President Cyril Ramaphosa and said Seidman failed to inform authorities about purported visits by senior Israeli officials. DIRCO described the conduct as a gross abuse of diplomatic privilege and a violation of the Vienna Convention. Bilateral ties have declined amid an ICJ genocide case and past parliamentary moves to sever relations.

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