Israeli’s representative to the latest African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has been reportedly ejected from the auditorium as the event got underway on Saturday.
Sharon Bar-Li who is the deputy director of the Africa Section of the Israeli Foreign Ministry was ordered to leave despite being initially given authorisation to participate in the summit as an observer.
Israel has an observer status in the African Union since it was allowed back to the fold four years.
Tel Aviv blames Sharon’s ouster on pressure exerted by Algeria and supported by South Africa.
A statement from its Foreign Affair ministry said “It is sad to see that the African Union has been taken hostage by a small number of extreme states like Algeria and South Africa, which are driven by hatred and controlled by Iran”.
Israel called on the AU ”to stand against these actions, which harm the African Union as an organisation and the continent as a whole.”
The AU which is styled after the European Union, reinstated Israel to the organisation several years ago after previous bids by Tel Aviv to rejoin the continental bloc was repeatedly ignored.
However, since its reintstatement, Israeli diplomats believe that Algeria and South Africa have been championing calls for this observer status to be revoked, the last being earlier last year when the North African country had filed a motion for this.
Israel’s said its inclusion withn the organisation would help deepen relations with Africa especially in the spheres of develpoment and the global threat posed by terrorism.
Currently 46 African countries have existing diplomatic ties with Israel rekindling long-lost relations with Morocco in 2020, Chad in 2019 and Guinea in 2016.
WN/as/APA