Israel Slams EU Foreign Minister's Comparison of Settlements to Crimea
Israeli Foreign Minister G Gideon Sa'ar strongly condemned European Union Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas after she compared Israeli settlements in the West Bank to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. In an interview with The Irish Times, Kallas expressed support for trade bans on settlement products, stating the EU should treat Israeli settlements similarly to how it treated Crimea following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. She argued that a trade ban on goods from "occupied territories" would be a principled step for the EU.
Sa'ar dismissed the comparison as having "no factual or legal basis" and called it "completely unacceptable." He asserted that the West Bank has never belonged to a Palestinian state, which he stated has never existed. Kallas's remarks suggest a potential shift in EU policy regarding trade with settlements, framing them as illegal and drawing parallels to internationally condemned territorial seizures.
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