South Africa's governing ANC party on Sunday welcomed what it described as the "encouraging" expulsion of a senior Israeli diplomat from the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, AFP reported.
Sharon Bar-li, Israel's foreign ministry deputy director general for Africa, was on Saturday escorted out of the AU assembly in the Ethiopian capital.
Israel accused Iran of orchestrating the move with help from Algeria and South Africa, and said the charge d’affaires at the South African embassy in Israel will be summoned this week for reprimand by the Director General of the Foreign Ministry.
In a statement on Sunday, the African National Congress (ANC) gave clear support for Bar-li's ousting.
The ANC said her removal was aimed at "thwarting 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".
Anti-Israel sentiments remain prevalent in South Africa, where the government has frequently accused Israel of applying a policy of “apartheid” towards Palestinian Arabs.
Last year, South Africa's former chief justice was ordered to apologize for comments he made two years earlier pledging support for Israel.
In 2019, the country announced plans to downgrade its embassy in Tel Aviv.
A year earlier, South Africa withdrew its ambassador to Israel in protest against the deadly violence along the Israel-Gaza border.
The decision came after the Hamas terrorist organization led violent and mass terrorist acts in protest against the inauguration of the new United States embassy in Jerusalem. Hamas later openly admitted that most of those who were killed in those violent riots were members of the group.
Several years ago, the ANC party proposed new rules regarding dual citizenship meant to stop South African citizens from joining the IDF.