{"id":95136,"date":"2026-02-01T10:11:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T10:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot"},"modified":"2026-02-01T10:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T10:20:45","slug":"south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot","title":{"rendered":"South Africa and Israel give each other the boot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>South Africa declared the top diplomat at Israel\u2019s embassy persona non grata on Friday and ordered him out within 72 hours, a move that could worsen strained relations with the United States.<\/p>\n

Israel promptly retaliated by declaring South Africa\u2019s senior diplomatic representative, Minister Shaun Edward Byneveldt, persona non grata and giving him the same deadline to leave.<\/p>\n

Relations between the countries have been strained since South Africa brought a genocide case over Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice. Israel has rejected the case as baseless.<\/p>\n

The genocide case has also contributed to U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s attacks on Pretoria, including verbal scolding, trade sanctions and an executive order last year cutting all US funding.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s foreign ministry said it had ordered Israeli charge\u0301 d\u2019affaires Ariel Seidman to leave because of \u201cunacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice\u201d, including insulting President Cyril Ramaphosa on social media.<\/p>\n

It did not specify which social media posts had caused offence, but one potential culprit was a post on X in November in which the Israeli embassy account wrote: \u201cA rare moment of wisdom and diplomatic clarity from President Ramaphosa.\u201d<\/p>\n

The South African statement also accused Seidman of a \u201cdeliberate failure\u201d to notify South African authorities about visits by senior Israeli officials.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s foreign ministry posted on X that it was expelling South Africa\u2019s representative \u201cfollowing South Africa\u2019s false attacks against Israel in the international arena and the unilateral, baseless step taken against (Israel\u2019s) Charge\u0301 d\u2019Affaires\u201d.<\/p>\n

South African lawmakers in 2023 voted in favour of closing the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and suspending diplomatic relations over the war in Gaza, but that decision was never implemented.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do hope that the Israeli embassy will engage with us in a respectful manner, and that they will send someone who will engage respectfully and who will uphold and pursue diplomacy. That is what we intend to do,\u201d said Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa\u2019s foreign ministry, on the television channel Newzroom Afrika.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. South Africa declared the top diplomat at Israel\u2019s embassy persona non grata on Friday and ordered him out within 72 hours, a move that could worsen strained relations with the United States. Israel promptly retaliated by declaring South Africa\u2019s senior diplomatic representative, Minister Shaun Edward Byneveldt, persona non grata and giving him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-95136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSouth Africa and Israel give each other the boot - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Africa declared the top diplomat at Israel\u2019s embassy persona non grata on Friday and ordered him out within 72 hou ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Africa and Israel give each other the boot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Africa declared the top diplomat at Israel\u2019s embassy persona non grata on Friday and ordered him out within 72 hou ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-01T10:11:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-01T10:20:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1769928612.315056.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"South Africa and Israel give each other the boot\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-01T10:11:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-01T10:20:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot\"},\"wordCount\":362,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1769928612.315056.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-africa-and-israel-give-each-other-the-boot\",\"name\":\"South Africa and Israel give each other the boot - 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