New Delhi: Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Thursday that he was severing contact with European Union Vice-President Kaja Kallas over her comment comparing Tel Aviv’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid-era South Africa.
According to a Euractiv report, Kallas in May during closed-door meetings with Mexican officials in Mexico City, compared Israel’s Gaza and West Bank strategy to South Africa’s apartheid system.
“Officials and diplomats, including those present at the meeting, told Euractiv that she described how moved she was by a visit last year to South Africa and its apartheid museum in the capital, Johannesburg,” the report stated.
Following her comments, Sa’ar Thursday said he would halt all direct engagement with Kallas until she publicly retracts remarks that were reportedly made.
“I have 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, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East,” Sa’ar wrote on X.
Ms. @kajakallas, the EU High Rep. for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has for some time now been acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel.
Recently, it was published that during her visit to Mexico, she compared Israel to the racist…
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 18, 2026
Israel has long rejected accusations that its policies toward Palestinians amount to apartheid, describing such claims as politically motivated and factually incorrect.
Moreover, while some European governments, like Ireland and Spain, have condemned Israel’s military policies, the European Union as a whole has largely avoided endorsing them. Major member states, including Germany and France, have firmly rejected comparisons between Israel’s policies and apartheid-era South Africa.
South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel, also hinges on apartheid accusations claiming Tel Aviv has ignored obligations under the Genocide Convention through its military campaign in Gaza.
Kallas has largely adhered to the EU’s established position on the conflict. She has consistently affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself following the 7 October Hamas-led attacks, while arguing that its military response must remain proportionate. At the same time, she has repeatedly been critical of Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, saying it erodes the prospects of a future two-state solution.
For six days after the report emerged, neither Kallas nor the European Commission publicly confirmed or denied whether she had made the comments.
Sa’ar accused Kallas of acting “obsessively and with blatant unfairness” toward Israel and said her failure to respond left him with no alternative but to suspend contact.
An Israeli official, quoted in Euractiv, said the measures were directed personally at Kallas rather than at the EU’s diplomatic apparatus. Israel, the official said, would continue working with the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic service headed by Kallas, as well as with the European Commission.
Kallas Thursday responded directly to Sa’ar in a public message on X, striking a conciliatory tone while avoiding any reference to the apartheid allegation itself.
“Dear Gideon, as you know, the EU and Israel have a lot that binds us,” she wrote. “I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively.”
She added that “dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy” and reiterated the EU’s commitment to maintaining a constructive relationship with Israel. Kallas also restated a longstanding European position that a two-state solution remains the only viable path to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The EU has condemned the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank that make it increasingly difficult to get to that goal,” she wrote. “That is the EU position.”
Sa’ar responded within hours, pressing her to address the central accusation directly.
“The matter is simple,” he wrote. “If you did indeed make these vile and defamatory statements, stand behind them. If you did not make them, deny it. Until this matter is cleared up, my decision will remain unchanged.”
Madam,
With all due respect, even in your remarks here you refrain from denying or condemning what has been attributed to you and published publicly. That speaks for itself.
To the best of my knowledge, the statements attributed to you regarding “apartheid” do not reflect the… https://t.co/kETNPXTZK8
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 18, 2026
In Brussels on Thursday, EU spokespersons repeatedly declined to confirm or deny whether Kallas had made the comparison during her meetings in Mexico.
Anouar El Anouni, the commission’s foreign affairs spokesperson, instead stressed that the European Union remained committed to maintaining dialogue with Israel even when disagreements arise.
Kallas, meanwhile, has faced criticism from some European politicians, including such as Armin Laschet, chairman of the German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, who argue that her remarks and public interventions risk undermining efforts to present a unified European position.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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