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Saar severs contact
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he would “sever all contact” with the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas after reports that she compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with South Africa’s former apartheid system.
Saar’s move followed a Euractiv report alleging that Kallas made the remarks during high-level talks with Mexican officials in May, and Saar said the failure to retract what he described as a “blood libel” left him with “no choice but to sever all contact” with the bloc’s high representative.
Kallas responded on social media by stressing the EU’s commitment to dialogue and to a two-state solution while making no attempt to deny the media report, and the diplomatic row unfolded as Israel faces ongoing legal proceedings in international courts over accusations of genocide and war crimes in Gaza.
Al Jazeera also reported that the row comes as EU leaders gathered for the second day of a European Council summit to approve a new budget on Friday, and Irish prime minister Micheal Martin said the EU’s failure to take action against Israel reflected poorly on the bloc.
Kallas replies, EU split
DW reported that Saar prefaced his comments online by saying that, "for some time now," Kallas had been "acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel."
DW said Kallas replied addressing Saar by his first name and wrote, "Dear Gideon, as you know, the EU and Israel have a lot that binds us," while she said she was open to continue dialogue and engagement.
In the same dispute, Euractiv’s report described Kallas as privately likening Israel’s policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to the racial segregation regime that ruled South Africa until the mid-1990s, and DW said the report did not directly quote or paraphrase Kallas beyond alleging the comparison.
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," and Mann also said the relationship is “very deep” because Israel participates in the Horizon research cooperation program.
What’s at stake in Europe
Al Jazeera said the EU-Israel Association Agreement, signed in 1995 and active since 2000, still stands despite pressure, and it positions the EU as Israel’s largest trading partner while establishing cooperation on investment, research, innovation and education.
“The United Nations Human Rights Office has previously found that Israel violates international laws that prohibit apartheid”
Al Jazeera reported that Ireland, Spain and Slovenia have led efforts within the EU to suspend this agreement, but those efforts have stalled due to resistance from countries like Germany, Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and it added that measures such as suspension require unanimity.
The Jerusalem Post said Mann acknowledged the relationship is “going through a more difficult period right now,” and he described EU concern over violence by extremist Israelis in the West Bank, saying, “We are very concerned.”
Euronews reported that Kallas valued “dialogue and engagement” with Israel but made no mention of the reported apartheid comment, while Saar had posted that he had “no choice but to sever all contact” until she retracts the “blood libel” he said she directed at the world’s only Jewish state.
