Israel cuts ties with EU’s Kallas over alleged apartheid comparison, splitting EU leaders

Severed contacts

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced on Thursday that he is cutting all contacts with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, accusing her of comparing Israel to the apartheid regime in South Africa during a closed-door meeting in Mexico in May. Saar said Kallas had acted toward Israel with an "obsessive" attitude and a "blatant lack of impartiality." He described the reported comparison as a "blood libel" against the Jewish state and demanded a retraction.

The disputed remarks

According to a 12 June report by the EU affairs outlet Euractiv, Kallas made the apartheid comparison while meeting with senior Mexican government officials during an EU mission to strengthen ties with Latin America. The remarks, cited by anonymous diplomats, were allegedly made behind closed doors and have never been officially confirmed. The comparison touched on Israeli treatment of Palestinians in both the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Kallas’s response

Speaking to press ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, Kallas neither confirmed nor denied the remarks. She pointed to her extensive public record, “dozens, if not hundreds” of statements on Israel, which she said reflect the official EU position.

“I am not going to start commenting on what was or was not said behind closed doors. I already fight this every week — someone claims I said something somewhere. Let’s stick to my public statements.”

She added:

“I cannot fight against shadows all the time.”

Kallas described her exchanges with Saar as "very good, open, honest, and sometimes also very difficult," which she considered "extremely constructive." She insisted the EU remains ready to continue dialogue, though she stressed:

“We cannot ignore the criticism, and these conversations must be conducted openly.”

European leaders split

Reaction from EU capitals was mixed. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz broke with his tradition of cautious criticism toward Israel:

“I expressly do not share this choice of words. This is an issue we will discuss extensively within the European Council.”

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker played down tensions, saying EU–Israel ties were not broken "and they should not be broken." Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Ireland’s leader, without commenting directly on the alleged remarks, renewed their condemnation of Israeli settlement expansion and stressed the humanitarian plight in Gaza.

Broader deterioration

The spat underlines a deepening rift between the EU and Israel since the war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 2023 attack. The Union has consistently condemned violent settlers in the West Bank and reiterated that a two-state solution remains the only viable path to peace.

“The European Union condemned the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which make the two-state solution impossible.”