Head of the African Governance and Diplomacy Programme at SAIIA, Steven Gruzd, tells Daily Maverick that South Africa’s expulsion of the Israeli chargé d’affaires and Israel’s reciprocal response are a symptom of a larger issue.
“The relationship between Israel and South Africa is in tatters. It has been deteriorating, especially over the last three years,” he says, adding that the mutual expulsion of diplomats “has not happened in isolation” but marks “the latest blow in an ideological war of attrition.”
