ISTANBUL 

The US has criticized South Africa’s decision to expel Israel’s acting ambassador, Ariel Seidman, calling it a “poor foreign policy choice.”

“South Africa’s recent decision to expel Israel’s top diplomat is another example of its poor foreign policy choices,” US State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said on US social media company X on Tuesday.

Pigott accused Pretoria of expelling Seidman for “calling out” the African National Congress party’s alleged ties to Hamas and “other antisemitic radicals,” arguing that the move prioritizes “grievance politics over the good of South Africa and its citizens.”

The South African Foreign Ministry on Friday announced that Seidman had been declared persona non grata over “a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct challenge to South Africa’s sovereignty,” including remarks deemed insulting to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Pretoria also gave Seidman 72 hours to leave the country.

In a tit-for-tat response on the same day, Tel Aviv declared South Africa’s senior diplomatic representative persona non grata, ordering him to leave the country within 72 hours.

Seidman has served as Israel’s charge d’affaires since November 2023, when Israel recalled its ambassador after South Africa withdrew its diplomats from Tel Aviv over Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

South Africa, which maintains relations with both Israel and Palestine, filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023, accusing it of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in its actions against Palestinians in Gaza.

Since then, the court has issued a series of provisional measures ordering Israel to take steps to prevent acts of genocide.

More than 71,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and over 171,000 others injured in the Israeli war since October 2023.