Israeli Foreign Minister Cuts Ties With EU Foreign Policy Chief Over Apartheid Comparison

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday that he is severing ties with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, after reports that she compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa. Saar said Kallas has been acting “obsessively and disgracefully unfairly” against Israel for some time.

According to Saar, during her recent visit to Mexico, Kallas likened Israel to the “racist apartheid regime that existed in South Africa.” He said he thanks European elected officials who condemned the remarks, but added that Kallas herself has not denied or responded to the report.

“As the foreign minister of the State of Israel, I have no choice but to cut off all contact with Ms. Kallas until she retracts the blood libel she hurled at the Jewish state, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East,” Saar wrote. “And so I am doing.”