The government of South Africa on Friday declared Ariel Seidman, charge d’affaires of the Israeli Embassy, persona non grata and gave him 72 hours to leave the country.
South African officials accused Seidman of “unacceptable violations of diplomatic protocol” which threatened South African national security.
According to the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Seidman’s violations “include the repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch insulting attacks against His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, and a deliberate failure to inform DIRCO of purported visits by senior Israeli officials.”
“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,” DIRCO charged.
“We urge the Israeli Government to ensure its future diplomatic conduct demonstrates respect for the Republic and the established principles of international engagement,” the statement concluded.
DIRCO did not specify what Seidman said on social media that was so offensive. Turkey’s Daily Sabah speculated it was a post on social media platform X from the Israeli Embassy account that condescendingly referred to a statement by the South African president as “a rare moment of wisdom and diplomatic clarity from President Ramaphosa.”
The part about failing to notify DIRCO of “purported visits by senior Israeli officials” was probably a reference to meetings with Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, king of a tribe called the AbaThembu and the nephew of former South African leader Nelson Mandela.
Dalindyebo has good relations with the Israeli government, while Ramaphosa and his administration do not, having accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians during the Gaza War.
Israel recalled its ambassador to South Africa in 2023 after the genocide charge was filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), leaving Seidman, the charge d’affaires, as the top Israeli diplomat in the country. South African lawmakers voted to shut down the Israeli diplomatic mission in Pretoria completely but never followed through on the vote.
Several high-ranking Israeli officials met with Dalindyebo when he visited Israel in December, and an Israeli delegation subsequently visited Dalindyebo’s home province to discuss “concrete assistance in water, health, and agriculture.”
Dalidneybo was infuriated by Seidman’s expulsion, denouncing it as an assault against his tribe and its royal family. He accused Ramaphosa and his government of seeking to starve and impoverish his people by driving the Israelis away.
“Our relationship with the Israeli Embassy is the one that we hold very close to our heart, as they have managed to help our people in a way that the South African government has not been able to do. When they dismiss the ambassador, it becomes difficult for us not to see this as a personal attack on the kingdom,” said the king’s spokeswoman, Ntando Dalindyebo, who is also his daughter.
“If they said he violated the protocol, why are they dismissing him now when Israel is in the process of bringing us water?” she asked.
Karen Milner, chair of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, criticized the expulsion of Seidman as “a drastic move” based on “a few tweets.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Friday denounced “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.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideo Sa’ar responded by declaring South Africa’s senior diplomatic representative, Minister Shaun Edward Byneveldt, persona non grata and giving him 72 hours to leave Israel.
“Additional steps will be considered in due course,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
Byneveldt is South Africa’s ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, which could challenge Israel’s authority to expel him. Israel could, in turn, prevent him from entering the West Bank if he refuses to leave.
“We have appointed an ambassador to the State of Palestine. Israel’s obstructionism forces a farcical arrangement where he is accredited through the very state that occupies his host country. This underscores Israel’s refusal to honor international consensus on Palestinian statehood,” said a spokeswoman for Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.
Many international media observers predicted the expulsion of Seidman would anger President Donald Trump, who already takes a very dim view of Ramaphosa and his government. Some speculated that the Seidman affair was specifically intended to annoy Trump, in response to strong U.S. criticism of South Africa’s recent joint naval exercises with Iran and China.
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