CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa ordered Israel's deputy ambassador to leave the country within 72 hours on Friday, accusing him of undermining relations between the countries with social media posts that insulted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and violating diplomatic protocols.
The South African Foreign Ministry said that it was expelling Ariel Seidman, the chargé d’affaires at the Israeli Embassy, and declared him persona non grata — a diplomatic term indicating the person is no longer welcome in a country.
Seidman is the most senior Israeli diplomatic figure in South Africa after Israel recalled its ambassador in 2023.
Hours later, Israel's Foreign Ministry said on X that it was expelling a senior South African diplomat, Shaun Edward Byneveldt, in response and ordered him to leave Israel within 72 hours.
Diplomatic relations between South Africa and Israel were already severely strained after South Africa — a longtime supporter of the Palestinian people — accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a case at the United Nations’ top court.
Israel has strongly denied the allegations and accused South Africa of acting as the legal arm of the Palestinian militant group Hamas by bringing the highly emotive case before the International Court of Justice.
Seidman's expulsion was likely to provoke a strong reaction from the United States, a close Israeli ally that under President Donald Trump has already been especially critical of South Africa.
The Trump administration has characterized South Africa as a supporter of Iran and Hamas and said it is pursuing an anti-American foreign policy, which South Africa denies.
Last year, Washington also expelled South Africa’s ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, over comments he made about the Make America Great Again movement, which he said was partly a response to a “supremacist instinct.”
The South African Foreign Ministry said expelling Seidman “follows a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct challenge to South Africa's sovereignty.” It said official Israeli social media platforms had been used to launch “insulting attacks” against Ramaphosa.
The ministry did not give any details on the posts it referred to, and it wasn't immediately clear what they contained.
The ministry also said there had been a deliberate failure to inform South Africa of visits by Israeli officials. It also gave no more detail on that, but David Saranga, an official at the Israeli Foreign Ministry tasked with promoting Israel's image on social media, was in South Africa this week.
South Africa said that it had informed the Israeli government of the decision to expel Seidman and urged it “to ensure its future diplomatic conduct demonstrates respect” for South Africa.
Some members of the Jewish community in South Africa criticized the decision to expel the diplomat. Karen Milner, the chairperson of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said it was “a drastic move” on the basis of “a few tweets.”
Associated Press writer Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the funeral of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage whose remains were recovered from the Gaza Strip, in Meitar, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
FILE - Activist protesting outside the Israel Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
Participants gather hold up Israeli flags during a demonstration in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Senate leaders were scrambling to save a bipartisan spending deal and avert a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday. Democrats have demanded new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country.
Democrats struck a rare deal with President Donald Trump Thursday to separate funding for the Homeland Security Department from a broad government spending bill and fund it for two weeks while Congress debates curbs on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The deal came as irate Democrats had vowed to vote against the entire spending bill and trigger a shutdown in the wake of the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said late Thursday there were “snags on both sides” as he and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer tried to work through any objections that could delay passage past the Friday deadline.
The latest:
Financial markets are uneasy as investors try to figure out what Trump’s new nominee, Kevin Warsh, to lead the Federal Reserve will mean.
U.S. stocks fell modestly Friday. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 118 points, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.
Prices for U.S. Treasury bonds initially rose following Trump’s announcement, perhaps suggesting increased hopes in the Fed’s ability to stay independent, before paring back.
Some of the wildest action was again in the precious metals markets, where gold’s price swung.
Leaders from Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland and other countries have recently visited China, while more are planning to go.
Since Trump took office again, America’s closest allies are exploring opportunities with China following clashes with Trump over tariffs and his demands to take over Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.
They’re resetting relations with a country long seen as a top adversary to many Western partners and the top economic rival to the U.S. despite the risk of irking Trump. This week alone, the prime ministers of the U.K. and Finland went to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Protesters across the U.S. are calling for a nationwide strike to oppose the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
The demonstrations are calling for “no work, no school, no shopping” on Friday.
The calls come almost a week after intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was killed while recording Border Patrol officers with his cellphone.
Multiple businesses announced they would be closed during the “blackout,” while some schools canceled classes in anticipation of mass absences. Some students are planning walkouts, while others plan to gather in churches, courthouses and city centers in solidarity.
Three other people were arrested with Lemon on Friday in connection with an anti-immigration protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church and increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration.
Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, his attorney Abbe Lowell said.
It is unclear what charge or charges Lemon and the others are facing in the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul. Lemon’s arrest came after a magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge him.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and that he was there as a journalist chronicling protesters.
Warsh was previously a runner-up for the Senate-confirmed post of Fed Chair in 2017, when Trump selected Powell to lead the central bank.
Warsh is credentialed with degrees from Stanford University and Harvard University Law School. He is also married to Jane Lauder, the daughter of billionaire cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, a major Republican donor.
At 35, Warsh became the youngest governor on the Fed’s seven member board, serving in that post from 2006 to 2011. Warsh worked closely with then-Chair Ben Bernanke in 2008-09 during the central bank’s efforts to combat the financial crisis and the Great Recession.
Warsh has been working as a visiting economics fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank located at Stanford University. He is also a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a partner at the Duquesne Family Office, which manages the wealth of billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller.
The Department of Homeland Security says that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now heading the investigation into the shooting death of Alex Pretti.
The Department said earlier this week that Homeland Security Investigations, which is a unit within the department, would be heading the investigation.
But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during an interview with Fox News on Thursday that the FBI was in the lead. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department said Friday in an email that HSI will support them.
Separately, Customs and Border Protection is doing its own internal investigation.
Homeland Security did not immediately respond to questions about when the change was made or why.
“Don Lemon is an accomplished journalist whose urgent work is protected by the First Amendment,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on social media.
“There is zero basis to arrest him. He should be freed immediately.”
He said “The Trump Justice Department is illegitimate. They will all be held accountable for their crimes against the Constitution.”
The retiring North Carolina senator has been among a group of Senate Republicans who have rushed to the defense of current Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after it was revealed earlier this month that the Justice Department had opened an inquiry into him.
After Trump said Friday that he would nominate former Federal Reserve official Kevin Warsh to serve as the next chair of the Fed, Tillis made clear the inquiry would stand in the way of any confirmation.
“I will oppose the confirmation of any Federal Reserve nominee, including for the position of Chairman, until the DOJ’s inquiry into Chairman Powell is fully and transparently resolved,” Tillis wrote.
Tillis, a swing vote on the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the Federal Reserve and approves central bank nominees, said in his post that Warsh is a “qualified nominee,” but stressed that “protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve from political interference or legal intimidation is non-negotiable.”
Tillis’s opposition could complicate the confirmation process for Warsh and Senate GOP leaders. Asked late Thursday whether Warsh could be confirmed without Tillis’s support, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, “probably not.”
Journalist Don Lemon has been arrested after he entered a Minnesota church and recorded anti-immigration enforcement protesters who disrupted a service in an incident that increased tensions between residents and the Trump administration, his lawyer said Friday.
It was not immediately clear what charge or charges Lemon was facing in the Jan. 18 protest. The arrest came after a magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the journalist.
Trump says he’ll nominate former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to be the next Fed chair.
Friday’s pick is likely to result in sharp changes to the powerful agency that could bring it closer to the White House and reduce its longtime independence from day-to-day politics.
Warsh would replace Jerome Powell when his term expires in May. Trump chose Powell to lead the Fed in 2017 but recently has assailed him for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. Warsh’s appointment requires Senate confirmation.
Warsh was on the Fed’s board from 2006 to 2011. He’s a fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution and a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Trump has signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, a move that puts pressure on Mexico.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says her government had at least temporarily stopped oil shipments to Cuba.
She says it was a “sovereign decision” not made under pressure from the U.S. Trump has squeezed Mexico to distance itself from the Cuban government. In the wake of the U.S. military operation to oust former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump has said the Cuban government is ready to fall.
Trump is suing the IRS and Treasury Department for $10 billion, as he accuses the federal agencies of a failure to prevent a leak of the president’s tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.
The suit, filed in a Florida federal court, includes the president’s sons Eric Trump and, Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump organization as plaintiffs.
Melania Trump is capping her first year back as first lady with the global release of a documentary she produced about the 20 days leading up to her husband’s return to the White House.
A private person, Melania Trump remains a bit of a mystery to the public in her husband’s second term. “Melania” premiered Thursday at the Kennedy Center before it is released on Friday in more than 1,500 theaters in the U.S. and around the world.
President Donald Trump arrives for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "Melania" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
