Gideon Sa’ar Cuts All Contact With EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas Over Apartheid Remarks

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Thursday that Israel is cutting off all contact with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas after she was compared to apartheid-era South Africa, a dispute that has sharpened tensions between Brussels and Jerusalem.

“Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says he is suspending contact with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, after reports that she compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa’s former apartheid system”

Al Jazeera

Sa’ar said Kallas “has for some time now been acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel,” and he added that “no denial, clarification or response has been issued by her regarding this severe statement.”

Al Jazeera

Kallas responded on X that “Dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy,” and she reiterated that “The EU is always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel.”

The Jerusalem Post quoted EU Ambassador to Israel Michael Mann saying, “It is not the official policy of the European Union that Israel is an apartheid state,” while also stressing that “Israel and the European Union are very close partners.”

In Saar’s account of the dispute, he tied his decision to a Euractiv report alleging Kallas made the comparison during a visit to Mexico, and he said he had “no choice but to sever all contact with Ms. Kallas until she retracts the blood libel she directed at the world's only Jewish state.”

DW reported that Kallas replied to Saar addressing him as “Dear Gideon,” saying “I value our dialogue and engagement, and I'm open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively.”

Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS)

The Arab Weekly described Saar’s position that Kallas “compared Israel to the racist apartheid regime” during a visit to Mexico last month, while noting that Kallas did not directly address the alleged remark.

While the dispute centers on language about Israel and Palestinians, the Jerusalem Post interview also placed EU concern on West Bank violence, with Mann saying “We are very concerned,” about “multiple cases of violent extremists entering Palestinian communities.”

The diplomatic clash is unfolding against a backdrop of the Gaza war, which the Euronews report said began after Hamas militant group’s 7 October attacks on Israel in 2023, when “around 1,200 people were killed and roughly 250 others were taken hostage into the Gaza Strip.”

“Could a direct military confrontation between Turkey and Israel break out”

BBC

Euronews also cited the Gaza health ministry’s figure that “around 73,000 people have died as a result of the conflict,” while the same report described Kallas calling for dialogue without mentioning the reported apartheid comment.

BSS/AFP reported that diplomatic and security sources told AFP Israel was due to renew the authorisation for the deployment of the EU’s border assistance mission (EUBAM) at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt around June 20, and a European security source said “this is not the time to anger the Israelis.”

In the same BSS/AFP account, Kallas had said the EU would explore options for restricting trade with Israeli settlements, and it noted that “no consensus had yet emerged” on sanctions against hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, as divisions persist among the EU’s 27 member states.