NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania’s government expelled Israeli diplomats and shut the embassy yesterday after freezing ties with the Jewish state over its invasion of Gaza.
Mauritania was one of only three Arab countries that had full diplomatic relations with Israel. The closure of the embassy in Nouakchott leaves just Egypt and Jordan with full ties with the Jewish state.
Mauritania’s communications minister said the move was a result of a decision taken at a meeting of Arab leaders in Doha in mid-January following Israel’s invasion of Gaza. “We informed them of the decision to suspend relations at the time of the summit in Doha, and it is now being executed,” El Kory Ould Abdel Mola told Reuters. “The embassy is closed.”
Another Mauritanian official said Israeli diplomats had been given 48 hours to leave the northwest African country. Staff were seen leaving the building.
“Israel has decided to close its embassy in Nouakchott,” the embassy said in a statement. “The ambassador is on vacation.”
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement in Tel Aviv: “Following the Mauritanian government’s decision on Jan. 16, 2009 to freeze diplomatic relations with Israel, and at its request, Israel will close its embassy in Nouakchott as of today.”
An official close to Mauritanian leader Abdel Aziz said that after the Doha summit, the Foreign Ministry had sent a letter to the Israeli ambassador advising him to leave. Summit host Qatar said at the time that it would freeze its own relations with Israel, which are at a lower level than full diplomatic ties.
Nouakchott, in common with other cities across the Arab world, saw protests against the Gaza attacks earlier this year. Over 1,300 Palestinians — at least 410 of them children — were killed in Israel’s three-week war on Palestinians.
In Tehran, general prosecutor Syed Mortzavi was quoted by Fars news agency as saying yesterday that Iran will send Interpol a list of over 100 Israeli “war criminals” involved in the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza.
A senior religious leader, meanwhile, said Israeli leaders and military commanders deemed by Iran to be war criminals should be executed. Addressing a Friday sermon broadcast live on state radio, Ahmad Khatami, a member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, said: “I thank our judiciary, which has called for the arrest and punishment of these savage criminals. Our judiciary has the right to announce verdicts, and I say frankly that the verdict against them should be execution for being corrupt on earth and waging war against God and the Prophet (pbuh).”
On Sunday, chief prosecutor Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafbadi asked for international arrest warrants to be issued for 34 Israeli political leaders and 114 military commanders over Israel’s war on Gaza.
