Manny Ita
South Africa ordered Israel’s top diplomat to leave the country within 72 hours on Friday, January 30, 2026, citing a “series of violations” of diplomatic norms, an action that prompted an immediate tit-for-tat expulsion of Pretoria’s representative by the Israeli government. The South African foreign ministry declared Israel’s chargé d’affaires, Ariel Seidman, “persona non grata,” stating that the measure “follows a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct challenge to South Africa’s sovereignty.” Among the cited breaches were “the repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch insulting attacks” on President Cyril Ramaphosa and a “deliberate failure” by the embassy to inform the host government of visits by senior Israeli officials to the country.
The Israeli foreign ministry responded swiftly by declaring South Africa’s senior diplomatic representative, Shaun Byneveldt, persona non grata and ordering his departure within 72 hours. In a statement released on X, Israeli officials accused Pretoria of “false attacks against Israel in the international arena” and characterized the expulsion of Seidman as a “unilateral, baseless step.” The friction between the two nations has been exacerbated by a recent unauthorized visit by an Israeli delegation to the Eastern Cape province, which the South African foreign ministry described as a “gross abuse of diplomatic privilege” that has “systematically undermined the trust and protocols essential for bilateral relations.”
The diplomatic fallout is the latest escalation in a feud that deepened significantly following South Africa’s 2023 genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. While Israel maintains that its military actions in Gaza are a response to the October 2023 Hamas attacks, South African officials have remained sharply critical, with Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola recently suggesting “a clear agenda to cleanse Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank.” In response to the expulsion of Byneveldt, South African foreign affairs spokesman Chrispin Phiri noted that Byneveldt serves as the “ambassador to the State of Palestine not Israel,” arguing that “Israel’s obstructionism forces a farcical arrangement where he is accredited through the very state that occupies his host country.”
