Israel's Foreign Minister Cuts Ties With EU Foreign Policy Chief Over Apartheid Claim

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced on Thursday that he is severing ties with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, after reports that she compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa. Sa’ar said the break will remain in place until Kallas retracts what he called a “blood libel” against Israel.

According to a report cited by the news outlet Euractiv, Kallas made the comparison in closed-door meetings in Mexico City in May. The report also said she had been pushing efforts to impose sanctions on Israel within the European Union.

Posting on X, Sa’ar accused Kallas of acting “with obsessive and disgraceful unfairness” toward Israel. He wrote that, as Israel’s foreign minister, he had “no choice” but to cut off contact with her because she had attacked “the only Jewish state, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East.”

The remarks triggered strong criticism in Europe. One senior European diplomat said the apartheid comparison was unacceptable and not EU policy, warning that it was a serious problem if Kallas was making such statements while officially representing the bloc abroad. Hildegard Bentele, a German member of the European Parliament and head of its delegation for relations with Israel, said the comparison was factually wrong and “completely unacceptable” from someone speaking for the EU. Former Israeli lawmaker Emilie Moatti dismissed Sa’ar’s move as diplomatic amateurism and argued that Israel should instead address the government policies that have damaged its standing abroad.