This is not the first time an Israeli delegation has been prevented from participating in an African Union Summit.
The African Union prevented an Israeli delegation from entering its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Wednesday, Al-Jazeera reported, citing an African diplomatic source.
The Israeli delegation was reportedly supposed to present its point of view regarding the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.
The 44th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the AU began Wednesday at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
Discours de S.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat Président de la Commission de l’Union Africaine à l’Occasion de la Quarante-Quatrième Session Ordinaire du Conseil Exécutif : https://t.co/hSDLBAE85P
37th #AUSummit pic.twitter.com/nJvnRPaSuN— African Union (@_AfricanUnion) February 14, 2024
According to Al-Jazeera, the AU refused the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in its meetings.
This is not the first time an Israeli delegation has been prevented from participating in an African Union Summit.
Israel was readmitted as an observer country to the pan-African bloc in 2021. In January 2022, however, Algerian diplomats introduced a motion to revoke Israel’s newly reinstated observership.
In February 2023, the Israeli delegation was expelled from the opening ceremony after pressure from Algeria and South Africa.
#BREAKING | Last year, the Israeli delegation was kicked out of the African Union Summit after pressure from #Algeria and #SouthAfrica to revoke "Tel Aviv's" invitation. pic.twitter.com/6drkgGQD5T
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) February 14, 2024
On December 29, the South African government brought the case against Israel before the International Court of Justice, accusing it of “genocidal acts” in its military campaign in Gaza.
Following two hearings in The Hague on January 11-12, the World Court ordered Israel on January 26 to take measures to prevent and punish direct incitement of genocide in its ongoing war in Gaza.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 28,576 Palestinians have been killed, and 68,291 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 8,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
‘Decisive Victory’ – ICJ Delivers Ruling on Genocide in Gaza
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all of the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
