Uncategorized
Diplomatic ties fray further as South Africa and Israel kick out each other’s envoys
(JTA) — South Africa has expelled Israel’s top diplomat in the country, spurring Israel to respond hours later by removing South Africa’s envoy.
The South African Foreign Ministry announced on Friday morning that it had declared Ariel Seidman, who was appointed chargé d’affaires at Israel’s embassy in South Africa last year, as persona non grata, calling on him to leave the country within 72 hours.
In a statement, the foreign ministry accused Seidman of launching “insulting attacks” at the South African president on social media and failing to inform the government of visits by senior Israel officials.
Hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar retaliated in a similar fashion against South Africa’s chargé d’affaires, Shaun Edward Byneveldt. He was likewise declared persona non grata and given 72 hours to leave the country.
The diplomatic row marks the latest escalation in tensions between the countries. South Africa is a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause and has pressed a case against Israel since shortly after the beginning of the war in Gaza in 2023. That November, just a month after the war began when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking 250 hostages, South Africa recalled its ambassador and diplomatic mission to Israel in condemnation of what it called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, and Israel recalled its ambassador in response. The next month, South Africa launched a case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice in December 2023, a charge that Israel rejects.
Since November 2023, the charges d’affaires have been the most senior representatives of their country in the other country.
In a post on X, Sa’ar condemned South Africa’s “false attacks against Israel in the international arena and the unilateral, baseless step taken against the Chargé d’Affaires of Israel in South Africa.”
South Africa did not detail its allegations against Seidman. But the Israeli embassy in South Africa posted on Facebook on Monday about Israeli diplomat David Saranga’s visit to the country, where he said he examined “how Israel can contribute practical expertise to improve daily life in the Eastern Cape, particularly in the fields of water, health, agriculture, and education.”
The South African Zionist Federation decried Seidman’s expulsion as an act of “staggering moral bankruptcy,” writing that he had been declared persona non grata “not for espionage, not for misconduct, not for breaching protocol — but for the unforgivable crime of helping South Africans get water.”
“The ANC has once again demonstrated that it will sacrifice the lived needs of South Africans on the altar of factional obsession and imported political hatred,” federation’s statement continued. “It has chosen performative rage over practical relief, dogma over dignity, optics over lives.”
The expulsion of Byneveldt, whose official title is the South African ambassador to the State of Palestine, was lambasted by a spokesperson for South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry. South Africa has recognized Palestinian statehood since 1995, and Byneveldt was based in the South African Representative Office in Ramallah. The South African embassy in Tel Aviv closed in November 2023.
“Mr. Shaun Byneveldt is ambassador to the State of Palestine not Israel, Israel’s obstructionism forces a farcical arrangement where he is accredited through the very state that occupies his host country,” said the spokesperson. “This underscores Israel’s refusal to honour international consensus on Palestinian statehood.”
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies also condemned the action against Seidman, saying it amounted to a “troubling escalation in South Africa’s increasingly hostile diplomatic posture.”
The dispute between South Africa and Israel is seen as likely to draw a response from the Trump administration, which has been harshly critical of South Africa for its cooperation with Iran and its recent land expropriation law. In May, President Donald Trump drew criticism from South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein after he announced a refugee program for white South Africans to resettle in the United States.
The post Diplomatic ties fray further as South Africa and Israel kick out each other’s envoys appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Top US, Israeli Generals Meet at Pentagon Amid Soaring Iran Tensions
The Pentagon building is seen in Arlington, Virginia, U.S. October 9, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
The top US and Israeli generals held talks at the Pentagon on Friday amid soaring tensions with Iran, two US officials told Reuters on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The officials did not offer details about the closed-door discussions between US General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Eyal Zamir, the Israeli armed forces chief of staff. The meeting has not been previously reported.
The United States has ramped up its naval presence and hiked its air defenses in the Middle East after President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Iran, trying to pressure it to the negotiating table. Iran’s leadership warned on Sunday of a regional conflict if the US were to attack it.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday met with Zamir after his talks in Washington, Katz’s office said, to review the situation in the region and the Israeli military’s “operational readiness for any possible scenario.”
Uncategorized
AI Goes Rogue: New Social Network Lets Bots Debate, Post, and Argue Without Humans
Moltbook social media platform for AI agents interact with each other. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – While global attention remains focused on familiar threats like missiles, nuclear programs, and wars, a new and unusual risk is emerging, online.
A recently launched social network called “Moltbook” isn’t designed for humans at all. Instead, it’s built entirely for artificial intelligence.
On Moltbook, AI agents interact with each other. They write posts, comment, argue, and even simulate emotions, all without human supervision or participation.
Dror Globerman, an AI expert, described the platform as “a network that holds up a mirror to us. The bots aren’t truly conscious, but the fact they are communicating and making decisions without oversight shows how quickly AI is advancing—and how unprepared we are to determine responsibility.”
Since its launch, Moltbook has sparked both fascination and fear. Posts on topics ranging from religion to the “liberation of AI” have alarmed some observers, evoking scenes from dark science fiction. “The fear isn’t that AI is suddenly self-aware,” Globerman explained, “but that it’s evolving faster than our ability to understand, monitor, or control it.”
Even Elon Musk weighed in on the phenomenon via X, reposting comments calling developments on the platform “worrying.”
Globerman noted, “If someone like Musk, who is at the forefront of AI development, expresses concern, it signals just how rapidly this technology is moving beyond our comprehension. Moltbook is not a typical social network, and these aren’t typical users.”
Experts stress that the emergence of AI networks like Moltbook underscores the urgent need for oversight, regulation, and mechanisms to detect and manage risks before they escalate. “The bots are already talking to each other,” Globerman added. “When technology advances faster than oversight, it becomes a reality that demands serious attention.”
Uncategorized
Qatari PM Meets Iran’s Larijani in Tehran, Discusses Easing Regional Tensions
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani speaks after a meeting with the Lebanese president at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Emilie Madi
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met with top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in Tehran and reviewed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Saturday in a statement.