Tel Aviv Regime Furious after Being Expelled from Africa Summit

On Saturday, the Foreign Ministry disclosed that an Israeli observer delegation was kicked out of the opening ceremony in Addis Ababa of the African Union summit.

It said that the severe diplomatic breach had occurred because of Algeria and South Africa. The first report of the incident revealed that the Israeli delegation was asked to leave during the opening ceremony by the security guards.

The incident

Sharon Bar-Li, the Deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry for Africa, was leading the Israeli delegation.

Video showed them have a discussion of several minutes before they left. Lior Hayat, the spokesperson of the ministry, issued a statement after the incident.

He said that the incident that saw Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li, the deputy for Africa, removed from African Union hall was taken seriously by Israel.

It had happened even though she was an accredited observer as per her status and had the access badge for it.

Hayat further asserted that a small number of extremist nations like South Africa and Algeris have taken the African Union hostage, which was quite upsetting.

The spokesperson further said that these countries were controlled by Iran and driven by hatred. He added that these actions are harmful for the African continent itself as well as the African Union.

Therefore, he called on African countries to take immediate action against them.

The reaction

The Foreign Ministry also announced later on Saturday that Ronen-Levy, the director-general of the ministry, would also summon the charge d’affaires at the embassy of South Africa in Israel.

It said that he would be called for a dressing down in the next few days. The Foreign Ministry said that the observer status of Israel could not be cancelled, as there is no basis to do so in the rules of the organization.

It said that that their observer status had been supported by a clear majority at the organization. The 55-member bloc has faced a great deal of discord over the observer status granted to Israel.

Other details

Vincent Magwenya, the spokesman for Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African President, was questioned about Israel accusing South Africa and Algeria for the incident.

The spokesman said that Israel needs to provide proof of their claim. There had been a debate scheduled about Israel’s observer status at the summit last year, but it had been suspended.

This was done for avoiding a vote that would undoubtedly cause a rift in the African Union. A committee had instead been established, which had to give recommendations at the summit this year.

It comprised of six members, including Algeria and South Africa, which were against Israel’s accreditation, and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, which were in favor of it.

The African Union Commission is an organization that puts a great deal of value on consensus and the ties with Israel have proven to be a rare point disagreement.

The chair of the organization, Moussa Faki Mahamat, had accepted the accreditation of Israel to the bloc in 2021, which had resulted in protest from powerful member states, including South Africa.