SA battles to keep Israel out of AU summit

While Israel still officially has observer status at the African Union (AU), it’s unlikely to be allowed to attend the organisation’s annual summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this month.

This follows a year-long battle that resulted in Israel being granted observer status in 2021. But countries like South Africa and Algeria stridently opposed both the procedure and principle behind this decision.

South Africa has reportedly threatened the AU Commission chairperson, Chad’s Moussa Faki Mahamat, not to dare let Israel in.

At last year’s summit, the issue threatened to distract and divide the continental body. In typical fashion, when it couldn’t decide, the AU “kicked for touch”, and appointed a seven-country committee to deliberate and report to the 2023 summit. This committee has never met, however, nor is it expected to meet anytime soon.

So, whether Israel is welcome there or not is complicated. When Israel’s new ambassador to Ethiopia, Aleligne Admasu, presented his credentials in July 2021, he was also accredited to the AU by Faki. Israel had observer status at the predecessor of the AU, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), rescinded when the OAU transformed into the AU in 2002, driven by the late Muammar Gadaffi of Libya.

South Africa contended that Faki had no power to confer observer status. In a July 2021 press statement, the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) called the decision “unjust”, “unwarranted”, and “inexplicable”.

In July 2022, addressing Palestinian ambassadors in Pretoria, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Dr Naledi Pandor said that the decision “was taken unilaterally and without adequate consultation with all AU members” and “it’s … incomprehensible that the AU Commission chooses to reward Israel at a time when its oppression of Palestinians has been demonstrably more brutal.”

The divisive issue was hotly debated at the last summit, and when the Assembly of Heads of State and Government couldn’t agree, the committee was formed to examine the issue and report back this year. It had three countries opposed to Israel: Algeria, Nigeria, and South Africa, and three states close to Israel: Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda, plus Senegal as the chair.

The committee has never convened. In the interim, Israel has technically been an observer during 2022, but it hasn’t been present to observe much.

Professor Hussein Solomon of the department of political studies and governance at the University of the Free State said, “Because it divided the AU, they just kicked the can down the road, and will continue to do so.”

Israel’s supporters contend that Israel maintains its observer status until it’s officially expelled. Its detractors – including South Africa – contend that it doesn’t have the status, and therefore isn’t welcome to attend public AU meetings.

“The decision to grant Israel observer status was unanimously suspended” in February 2022, Pandor claims. South Africa rallied the Southern African Development Community and other states to its position. It has reportedly placed heavy pressure on Faki not to invite Israel to the 2023 summit.

The question remains as to whether Israel is meant to wait for an explicit invitation to attend the summit. Sources at the Israeli foreign affairs ministry recall that such invitations weren’t issued nor needed in the days of the OAU.

To date, Israel hasn’t received an invitation and thus won’t attend. The ministry is understood to be pushing for an invitation, however.

“Israel remains an observer member of the AU in spite of the continued hostile reaction of the South African government,” said Benji Shulman, the director of public policy at the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF).

“The SAZF calls on the African National Congress government to end its campaign against Israel’s observer status in the AU as its participation continues to benefit the continent in a number of innovative ways.”

Shulman cited several recent projects to help communities across South Africa and Africa with solar energy, water, and technology, and noted that 46 of the 55 states in Africa have diplomatic relations with Israel. “Logically, Israel’s entry into the organisation is simply an extension of what’s happening at bilateral level,” Shulman said.

“South Africa’s single-minded pursuit of Israel’s expulsion from the AU underlines the inflexible – almost obsessional – antagonism towards the Jewish state that dominates our foreign policy,” said Professor Karen Milner, the national chairperson of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. “It’s almost unnecessary to point out how glaringly inconsistent this is with government’s declared approach to other global disputes. In addition to being palpably discriminatory, South Africa’s stance is also hopelessly out of step with contemporary trends.”

Terence Corrigan, the project manager at the Institute of Race Relations said, “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an area into which South Africa sinks a great deal of its political capital – quite wastefully in relation to any reasonable consideration of its interests. Be that as it may, it will put up a massive fight over Israel’s attendance. Will it be successful? Perhaps, but in the broader sense, it’s fighting a losing battle. Israel’s advances on the continent have been remarkable, and the doubtful value of anchoring a Middle East policy on this intractable conflict hasn’t been lost on many African states. South Africa has no influence over the conflict but only stands to deprive itself of whatever benefits engagement might bring.”

A Dirco official confirmed to the SA Jewish Report that South Africa’s position on the matter hasn’t changed.

For now, it looks like the issue is in limbo – Israel is neither officially banned, nor officially welcome. It’s similar to the downgrading of the South African embassy in Tel Aviv – the embassy hasn’t been officially downgraded, but there hasn’t been an ambassador present since mid-2018, effectively a downgrade in practice.

But the going may get tougher for Israel as the more sympathetic Macky Sall of Senegal is succeeded as AU chairperson by either Comoros or Kenya in 2023, a north African state in 2024 (mostly hostile to Israel, besides Morocco and Egypt), and then likely Namibia in 2025.

The Israeli ambassador to South Africa, Eli Belotserkovsky, declined to comment for this story.

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