<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" dir="ltr" lang="en-US">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/02/20/senior-israeli-diplomat-expelled-from-african-unions-annual-summit/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Senior Israeli diplomat expelled from African Union’s annual summit<br></h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Peoples Dispatch - February 20, 2023<br></div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<p><span>South Africa, one of the members of the African Union (AU),
claimed on Sunday, February 19, that since Israel’s status as observer
is not yet finalized, the expulsion of its delegate a day earlier from
AU’s annual summit meeting was justified, </span><i><span>Reuters </span></i><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/top-israeli-diplomat-ejected-au-summit-row-escalates-2023-02-18/"><span>reported</span></a><span>. </span></p>
<p><span>A video was posted on social media on Saturday showing Israel’s
deputy director for Africa Sharon Bar Li being asked to leave the
inaugural meeting of the AU annual summit held in Ethiopian capital
Addis Ababa by security.</span></p>
<p><span>Ebba Kalondo, spokesperson of the AU chairperson, was later
quoted by the news agencies saying that Bar Li was asked to leave the
meeting because she was not invited to the summit and AU had only issued
a non-transferable invitation to Israeli ambassador to the African
Union, Aleli Admasu. </span></p>
<p><span>Reacting to the news, Israel claimed that its diplomat was duly accredited to attend the meet and </span><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-observer-delegation-kicked-out-of-african-union-summit/"><span>criticized</span></a><span>
South Africa and Algeria for the incident, claiming that “the African
Union has been taken hostage by a small number of extremist countries
such as Algeria and South Africa driven by hatred and controlled by
Iran.”</span></p>
<p><span>However, South Africa rejected Israeli accusations claiming
that Israel’s status as an observer of the African Union was not yet
settled and “until the AU takes a decision on whether to grant Israel
observer status, you cannot have the country sitting and observing.”</span></p>
<p><span>There were </span><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/23/israel-granted-observer-status-at-the-african-union"><span>reports</span></a><span> in July 2021 that Israel had been granted observer status of the 55-member African Union. However, </span><a href="https://menaaffairs.com/african-union-suspends-israels-observer-status/#:~:text=Countries%20such%20as%20South%20Africa,the%20African%20Union%20in%202002."><span>several members</span></a><span> of the group, including South Africa and Algeria, had objected to what they called “</span><a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/south-africa-objects-to-african-union-granting-israel-observer-status/2316651"><span>unilateral acceptance</span></a><span>” of its accreditation by the then chairman of the AU commission Mousa Faki Mahamat. </span></p>
<p><span>South Africa had claimed at the time that Israel’s observer
status contradicted the AU’s expressed support to the Palestinian people
and it “cannot be a party in any way to plans and actions that would
see the ideals of Palestinian statehood reduced into balkanized entities
devoid of true sovereignty, without territorial contiguity and with no
economic viability.”</span></p>
<p><span>Palestine has observer status at the African Union and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh </span><a href="https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/133433"><span>attended</span></a><span> the summit meeting on Saturday. </span></p>
<p><span>The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party, also </span><a href="https://twitter.com/MYANC/status/1627193402717573120"><span>welcomed</span></a><span>
the ousting of the Israeli delegate, and said that Israel’s attending
the summit was an “attempt to undermine the current sitting AU summit
from considering a report that is supposed to guide discussions on
whether Israel must be granted an observer status.” </span></p>
<p><span>ANC also made clear that it was opposed to the “AU granting apartheid Israel any observer status.”</span></p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div>