Israeli FM: Top EU diplomat’s meeting with Erdogan a ‘masterclass in hypocrisy’

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar lashed out at E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Wednesday for holding a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that focused on strengthening European ties with Ankara.

“It was good to speak with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today about further strengthening E.U.-Türkiye relations and the importance of good neighbourly relations,” Kallas wrote on X on Saturday, adding that Turkey is a “key partner” and a candidate to join the European Union.

Israel’s top diplomat denounced Kallas’s post as a “masterclass in hypocrisy.”

“You won’t find a single word here about: The brutal human rights violations in Turkey, which were on display again just weeks ago when a Turkish court removed the newly elected leader of the main opposition party from office; peaceful protesters being met with force and mass detentions; Erdoğan’s main challenger remaining behind bars; opposition mayors being arrested; journalists facing mounting restrictions; and political opponents being increasingly targeted through the courts,” wrote Sa’ar.

In June, Sa’ar announced that he would be cutting ties with the office of E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy “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.

Responding to Sa’ar’s statement, Kallas said she valued “dialogue and engagement” with the Jewish state and remained open to continuing it “respectfully and constructively.”

Kallas is 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.