Former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas took office on Sunday as the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, replacing Spain’s Josep Borrell.
The appointment of Kallas as Brussels’ top diplomat was formalized on Thursday following a vote in the European Parliament the previous day.
Borrell’s five-year tenure in the post was marked by incessant criticism of Israel and a lack of action against Iranian-backed terrorism.
Kallas’s opinions on the Jewish state are 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.”
Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of a European Council meeting in Brussels that month, she stressed that “everybody” was worried about the humanitarian situation amid the war with Hamas. “Humanitarian aid has to reach people in Gaza and humanitarian laws have to be followed, which means civilians cannot be targeted,” she warned.
In April of this year, Kallas denounced “in the strongest possible terms” Iran’s “unjustified” missile and drone attacks on Israel. “This is a serious escalation putting more lives at risk,” she wrote.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, director of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, told Israel Hayom that “while we don’t expect her [Kallas] to match [leading Dutch politician] Geert Wilders’s pro-Israel stance, we believe she’ll maintain a more balanced approach.
“Borrell consistently used his position against Israel, almost obsessively. His departure brings relief, as it would be challenging to find someone more problematic,” the European Jewish leader added.
In the month leading up to his departure, Borrell proposed that Brussels suspend all political dialogue with Jerusalem. The move, which required unanimity among the 27 E.U. member states, was rejected on Nov. 18, with Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski telling Reuters, “We know that there are tragic events in Gaza, huge civilian casualties, but we do not forget who started the current cycle of violence.”
In September, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Borrell would not be welcome for an official visit that the latter had planned. Jerusalem proposed an alternative date, after Borrell’s retirement.
