S’Africa breaks diplomatic alliance with Israel, recalls Ambassador

The government also on Monday threatened action against the Israeli ambassador to South Africa over his recent remarks on the African country’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

The war broke out after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, leaving over 1,400 people dead. More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

“The South African government has decided to withdraw all its diplomats in Tel Aviv for consultation,” said minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.

She added the cabinet noted the “disparaging remarks of the Israeli ambassador to South Africa about those who are opposing the atrocities and genocide of the Israeli government” and that the department of international relations has been instructed to “take the necessary measures within the diplomatic channels and protocols to deal with (his) conduct.”

Ntshavheni also said the position of the Israeli ambassador in the country was “untenable.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters — who have been staging demonstrations at the US Consulate in Johannesburg and Israeli embassies in Pretoria and Cape Town — have called on the South African government to expel the Israeli ambassador.

International relations minister Naledi Pandor, who on Monday hosted her Ukraine counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, said the South African officials would be recalled from Tel Aviv to give the government a detailed briefing about the situation in the region.