South Africa recalls Ambassador from Israel over flotilla attack

Pretoria - South Africa has recalled its ambassador to Israel, Ishmael Coovadia, for consultations on the storming of a flotilla of ships on the way to Gaza on Monday.

Primedia reported Israeli naval forces tried to seize the ships and fighting broke out on the deck of the MV Mavi Marmara, leaving at least nine people dead and dozens injured, including Israeli military personnel and activists. The ships were funded by a Turkish charity with alleged links to Muslim extremists (The Foundation for Human Rights, Liberties and Humanitarian Relief [IHH] which is banned by Israel.) South Africa’s Department for International Relations and Cooperation spokesman, Mahlatsi Mminele, said this was a strong signal sent to Israel:

“It’s important for government to have a close relationship in our own representative on the ground in Israel to get a sense of what the issues are. This is one of the strongest protests we can undertake.”

The International Relations Department’s website also referred to an earlier Diplomatic Démarche handed to the Israeli Ambassador in Pretoria as a protest. It said it was:

Registering the Government’s strongest possible protest to the Israeli Government, for its unjustified military action and resultant loss of life inflicted by The State of Israel on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian relief supplies to Gaza.

In its reaction to the government’s action, the Coalition for a Free Palestine said in a media release:

The recall by the South African government – as well as similar actions by other countries such as Sweden, Spain and Turkey – are an indication to the Apartheid Israeli regime that the world is no longer willing to tolerate its brutal impunity and terrorism. The regime’s repeated violations of international law and United Nations resolutions make a mockery of the notion of international law.

The response from the country’s Jewish Board of Deputies said:

The South African Government's decision to temporarily recall our Ambassador to Israel in response to the incident is premature and inappropriate. The relevant facts of the incident are not yet fully known; they will become so only after the investigation into its causes has completed its work and reported its findings to the international community.

The government did make it clear, however, that it was not planning to cut diplomatic relations with Israel despite its unexpected recall of ambassador. Deputy International Relations Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim said:

There is no indication on the government at the present moment to expel the Israeli ambassador or to cut off diplomatic relations with Israel.”