UPDATE 2-South Africa kicks out Israel's top diplomat

The South African foreign ministry ‍accused embassy chargé d'affaires Ariel Seidman of "unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct challenge to South Africa's sovereignty". "These violations include the ⁠repeated use ‌of official Israeli ⁠social media platforms to launch insulting attacks" on Ramaphosa, as well as ‍a "deliberate failure" to notify the South African authorities about visits by ​senior Israeli officials.

South Africa declared the ‌top diplomat at Israel's embassy persona non grata on Friday and ordered him out of ⁠the country within 72 hours, for what it called repeated violations of diplomatic norms, including insulting President Cyril Ramaphosa.

A spokesperson for the ​Israeli embassy declined to comment. The South African foreign ministry ‍accused embassy chargé d'affaires Ariel Seidman of "unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct challenge to South Africa's sovereignty".

"These violations include the ⁠repeated use ‌of official Israeli ⁠social media platforms to launch insulting attacks" on Ramaphosa, as well as ‍a "deliberate failure" to notify the South African authorities about visits by ​senior Israeli officials. Diplomatic relations between South Africa and Israel ⁠have been strained since South Africa brought a genocide case over Israel's actions in ⁠Gaza at the International Court of Justice. Israel has rejected the case as baseless.

South African lawmakers in 2023 voted ⁠in favour of closing down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and ⁠suspending all diplomatic ‌relations over the war in Gaza, but that decision was never implemented.