Israeli ambassador to South Africa is summoned back to Israel

A diplomatic spat between South Africa and Israel over the Gaza crisis has led to Israel recalling its ambassador for talks. Eli Belotserkovsky was posted to Gaza. The ruling party in South Africa announced last week that it would support a move to close Israel’s embassy in Pretoria and terminate diplomatic ties with the country.

In a statement released on Monday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Ambassador Belotserkovsky’s departure from Pretoria was due to “recent comments from South Africa.”

The action was taken just hours after Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the South African Minister in the Presidency, informed reporters that Pretoria had requested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, by the middle of December.

Longtime backers of Palestinian autonomy, South Africa has been vocal in criticising Israel’s bombing assault in Gaza, which local officials claim has resulted in the deaths of over 11,000 Palestinians. After an estimated 1,200 people were killed in an attack by the Palestinian militant group on the Jewish state earlier in October, Israel declared war on Hamas.

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa reaffirmed last week that Israel’s attack on Gaza qualifies as genocide and calls for a war crimes probe. He declared that the Israeli government had been sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a formal investigation by Pretoria and a few other non-named nations.

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Along with Bolivia, Belize, Bahrain, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Jordan, and Turkey, the African country has already pulled its ambassador and diplomatic personnel from Tel Aviv.

In the meantime, to discuss the worsening situation in Gaza, President Ramaphosa will call an exceptional emergency video conference with the other leaders of the BRICS on Tuesday.

The group, which was initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is due to meet jointly at 12:00 GMT. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, will be present, the Kremlin declared on Monday.

Along with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the heads of the nations asked to join the bloc in January—Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates—are also anticipated to be there.