South African parliament votes to close Israeli embassy

South Africa’s parliament voted by a strong majority to close the Israeli embassy in South Africa, send the Israeli ambassador home, and suspend diplomatic relations with Israel.

The vote comes after Israel announced it was recalling its ambassador Eli Belotserkovsky from South Africa “for consultations”.

The African country has not had an ambassador in Israel since 2018. The vote is also largely symbolic and it would be up to the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, to implement the deal