{"id":4359,"date":"2026-02-04T02:03:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/us-condemns-expulsion-of-israeli-diplomat"},"modified":"2026-02-05T02:37:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T02:37:54","slug":"us-condemns-expulsion-of-israeli-diplomat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/us-condemns-expulsion-of-israeli-diplomat","title":{"rendered":"US Condemns Expulsion of Israeli Diplomat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>The United States condemned South Africa\u2019s decision to expel the Israeli charge\u0301 d\u2019affaires last week, with a spokesperson for the US State Department describing the move as prioritizing a \u201cpolitics of grievance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tommy Pigott, Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, said on the X platform that \u201cexpelling a diplomat for criticizing the African National Congress\u2019s ties with the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and other antisemitic fundamentalist groups prioritizes grievance politics over the interests of South Africa and its citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Friday, the South African government announced that Ariel Sideman, charge\u0301 d\u2019affaires at Israel\u2019s embassy in Pretoria, had been declared \u201cpersona non grata\u201d and ordered to leave the country within 72 hours.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement that the decision followed \u201ca series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practices,\u201d which it described as a direct challenge to South Africa\u2019s national sovereignty.<\/p>\n

The ministry explained that these violations included the repeated use of Israel\u2019s official social media platforms to launch offensive attacks against South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as the deliberate failure to inform authorities about potential visits by senior Israeli officials.<\/p>\n

The statement described these actions as \u201ca serious abuse of diplomatic privileges and a fundamental breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,\u201d stressing that they had undermined trust and essential protocols governing bilateral relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n

Israel responded swiftly the same day, announcing that South Africa\u2019s senior diplomatic representative in Tel Aviv, Minister Shaun Edward Beinfieldt, had been declared \u201cpersona non grata\u201d and ordered to leave within 72 hours, describing South Africa\u2019s move as \u201ca malicious attack on Israel on the international stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

This step represents the culmination of ongoing tensions between the two sides, particularly in the aftermath of Israel\u2019s war on the Gaza Strip and South Africa\u2019s legal and political positions toward Israeli policies.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that on December 29, 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing it of violating the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.<\/p>\n

Find more news and analyses on Africa<\/span> on the Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press. The United States condemned South Africa\u2019s decision to expel the Israeli charge\u0301 d\u2019affaires last week, with a spokesperson for the US State Department describing the move as prioritizing a \u201cpolitics of grievance.\u201d Tommy Pigott, Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, said on the X platform that \u201cexpelling a diplomat for criticizing the African […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-4359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"\nUS Condemns Expulsion of Israeli Diplomat - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag"> Africa-Press. 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