Africa4Palestine welcomes persona non grata move, says it’s overdue

Africa4Palestine has welcomed the decision to declare Israel’s deputy ambassador, Ariel Seidman, persona non grata, saying it was overdue, as they have been calling for the total shutdown of the Israeli embassy in South Africa.

On Friday the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) announced that Seidman is required to leave South Africa within 72 hours.

In a statement, DIRCO says this decisive measure follows a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practices 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 against President Cyril Ramaphosa, and a deliberate failure to inform DIRCO of purported visits by senior Israeli officials.

Africa4Palestine spokesperson Alie Komape says, “It’s well over due we think its good riddance we have been calling for the closing of the Israeli embassy to begin with for expulsion of all diplomatic staff, personnel of Israel from this country. We are quite pleased that he’s been kicked out of SA but we want more to be done. We want the SA govt to fulfill its commitment to severe and cut all ties with the apartheid state of Israeli.”

MEDIA STATEMENT

30 January 2026

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has informed the Government of the State of Israel of its decision to declare Mr. Ariel Seidman, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Israeli Embassy, persona non grata. pic.twitter.com/IINt3ixnCO

— DIRCO South Africa (@DIRCO_ZA) January 30, 2026