SAJBD outraged by DIRCO's draconian action against Israeli diplomat

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies is outraged by DIRCO’s decision to declare Mr Ariel Seidman, Chargé d’Affaires of the Israeli Embassy, persona non grata. This is a troubling escalation in South Africa’s increasingly hostile diplomatic posture.

The decision to expel an Israeli diplomat over social media posts and alleged procedural oversights stands in stark contrast to South Africa's wilful blindness toward ongoing international atrocities. While DIRCO claims to champion diplomatic norms and human rights, it has consistently applied these principles selectively. This glaring inconsistency exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of DIRCO’s actions.

The government has remained silent on serious human rights abuses, including the massacres of protestors by the Iranian government and war crimes in Sudan.

Furthermore, given the dire lack of basic services for countless South Africans, it is striking that, just days after Israel offered water solutions to a desperate community in the Eastern Cape, DIRCO expelled the Israeli chargé d’affaires, diverting attention from real domestic issues. It is also notable that, as a ceasefire holds in the Middle East, the opportunity for South Africa to contribute to peace is again ignored.

Unlike DIRCO, South Africa's Jewish community remains committed to constructive dialogue on all matters affecting our country and the region. However, we cannot remain silent when principles are applied selectively, and when the vocabulary of human rights and international law is deployed inconsistently to target one nation while ignoring egregious violations by others.