The ejection of an Israeli diplomat from an African Union conference was "encouraging," according to the ruling ANC party in South Africa.
The ejection of an Israeli diplomat from an African Union conference was "encouraging," according to the ruling ANC party in South Africa.
According to AFP, South Africa's ruling ANC party hailed the removal of a top Israeli official from the African Union (AU) meeting in Addis Abeba on Sunday.
The deputy director general for Africa, Sharon Bar-li, in the Israeli foreign ministry, was led out of the AU summit in the capital of Ethiopia on Saturday.
According to Israel, the charge d'affaires at the South African embassy in Israel has been summoned this week for reprimand by the Director General of the Foreign Ministry, which has accused Iran of coordinating the action with assistance from Algeria and South Africa.
The African National Congress (ANC) made strong support for Bar-removal li's in a statement on Sunday. According to the ANC, her dismissal was intended to "thwart an attempt to hinder the present sitting AU Summit from considering a report that is supposed to steer talks on whether or not Israel must be granted an observer status."
In South Africa, where the government routinely accuses Israel of enforcing an "apartheid" policy targeting Palestinian Arabs, anti-Israel attitudes are widespread. The former chief justice of South Africa received an order to apologize last year for remarks he made two years prior endorsing Israel.
The nation plans to downsize its embassy in Tel Aviv public in 2019. South Africa had withdrawn its ambassador to Israel a year earlier to protest the deadly fighting on the Israel-Gaza border.
The choice was made in response to deadly and widespread terrorist acts carried out by the Hamas terrorist group in opposition to the opening of the new American embassy in Jerusalem. Hamas later acknowledged in the open that most of those killed in the bloody riots were members of the organization.
Several years ago, the ANC party suggested new dual citizenship laws to prevent South African nationals from enlisting in the IDF.