The French newspaper Le Monde said that the African Union withdrew the status of observer member that Israel enjoyed within the organization, and thus Tel Aviv was permanently banned from the institution after a decade of diplomatic efforts and two years of adopting that status, but the newspaper confirmed that Israel nevertheless remains influential in the continent.

The newspaper explained - in a report written by Noy Hoshet Boudin, its correspondent in Addis Ababa - that the unofficial expulsion of the Israeli delegation from the African Union General Assembly with the start of the presidents’ discussions in February of last year left its impact on the relationship between Tel Aviv and the continent, thanks to the efforts of South Africa and Algeria, which were behind the marginalization of the Israeli representatives, although they did not lead to resolving the issue of Israel.

A year after this diplomatic incident, the war on the Gaza Strip put an end to this debate, and “the file related to Israel’s accreditation remains closed,” says a senior African Union official.

The organization suspended Tel Aviv's observer status, and Ebba Kalondo, spokesman for the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, said, "Israel is not invited to attend the summit."

On the other hand, the African Union rolled out the red carpet for Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, who received long applause from the heads of states of the continent, most of which are committed to the Palestinian cause. He said in front of a number of African leaders that “the Palestinians are defending their homeland, just as you in Africa defended your lands against colonialism.”

The Africans condemned the Israeli attack, and the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, considered it the “most blatant” violation of international humanitarian law, and accused Israel of wanting to “exterminate” the people of Gaza. Afterwards, the President of the Comoros, Razali Ousmani, thanked South Africa for submitting a complaint to the International Court of Justice to denounce "the genocide that Israel is committing before our eyes."

The judges of the International Court of Justice had ruled in favor of Pretoria, which at the end of December 2023 submitted a request accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. Liesl Le Vaudran, a researcher at the International Crisis Group, said, “This is one of the greatest achievements in African diplomacy.” ".

Despite all this, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor expressed her concern “about the presence of Israeli representatives at the headquarters of the African Union in recent days,” after the Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia was seen inside the building, as Sharon Barley, Deputy Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expelled from the African Union in 2023, held secret meetings in the Ethiopian capital, according to several diplomatic sources.

Despite Israel's official ban from the African Union, the division over it has not been completely resolved - according to Le Monde - citing the vote of 7 African countries against the resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza, at the United Nations, on October 27 last year.

Source: Le Monde