Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced on Thursday that he would be cutting ties with the office of E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas “until she retracts the blood libel she directed at the world’s only Jewish state.”
Kallas “has for some time now been acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel,” Sa’ar tweeted, responding to reports that the European official, during a closed-door meeting, likened Jerusalem’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa under the apartheid regime.
“Recently, it was published that during her visit to Mexico, she compared Israel to the racist apartheid regime that existed in South Africa. I am grateful to the many European elected representatives who condemned this grave statement,” Sa’ar said.
Jerusalem’s top diplomat noted that “to date, no denial, clarification or response has been issued by her regarding this severe statement.
“Therefore, as the foreign minister of the State of Israel, 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,” he concluded.
Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister who took up her post as the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy in December 2024, visited Mexico City on May 20-22 as part of an E.U. delegation attending a summit.
During closed-door meetings with Mexican government representatives, Kallas likened Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza, Judea and Samaria to the racist policies of apartheid South Africa, E.U. affairs news website Euractiv reported last week, citing officials and diplomats.
Officials and diplomats, including those present at the meeting, told the outlet that she described how moved she was by a visit last year to South Africa and its apartheid museum in Johannesburg.
“The comparison with apartheid is unacceptable and not E.U. policy. It is a big problem if she is making these kinds of statements while officially representing the E.U. on the world stage,” said one E.U. diplomat, according to Euractiv.
Decision unchanged
Responding to Sa’ar’s statement on Thursday, Kallas said she valued “dialogue and engagement” with the Jewish state and remained open to continuing it “respectfully and constructively.
“Dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy, especially when differences arise,” she tweeted. “The E.U. is always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel.
“To bring peace to the Middle East, the two-state solution remains the only viable path. The E.U. has condemned the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank that make it increasingly difficult to get to that goal,” added the diplomat. “That is the E.U. position.”
Sa’ar countered that “even in your remarks here you refrain from denying or condemning what has been attributed to you and published publicly.
“To the best of my knowledge, the statements attributed to you regarding ‘apartheid’ do not reflect the position of the European Union. The matter is simple: if you did indeed make these vile and defamatory statements, stand behind them. If you did not make them, deny it,” Sa’ar tweeted.
“Until this matter is cleared up, my decision will remain unchanged,” he concluded.
Kallas took office as the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy in December 2024, replacing Spain’s Josep Borrell, whose five-year tenure in the post was marked by incessant criticism of Israel.
Kallas’s opinions on the Jewish state were not widely known. During her three-year premiership, she made her name primarily as a prominent critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine. In a 2022 interview with Axios, she criticized the previous Israeli government’s “neutral” stance on Ukraine, urging Jerusalem to denounce Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “playing on the suffering of the Jews” by saying he seeks to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
Following the November 2022 election victory of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she congratulated him, saying she was looking forward to strengthening Estonia’s “close bond” with Israel.
“In difficult times, democracies stick together—this is the way to stand against pariah states and safeguard our freedom and sovereignty,” Kallas added in a post on X.
Receiving the Europe Prize on Oct. 18, 2023, Kallas mentioned that the Jewish state was “facing some of the deadliest and darkest days in its 75-year history” since the Hamas massacre earlier that month.
“Israel is engaged in self-defense against terrorism. Throughout this defense, civilian lives should be spared, and norms of international law followed,” she stated, adding that Hamas terrorists show “no regard for human life, including for the lives of their fellow Palestinians.”
