Israel has cut off contact with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas after Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused her of likening Israel to apartheid-era South Africa and demanded that she withdraw the remarks.
Sa’ar announced the decision in a post on X, saying Kallas had allegedly made the comparison during a visit to Mexico in May. He said Israel would maintain the diplomatic freeze unless she retracted the statements.
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
The foreign minister condemned the alleged remarks as a “blood libel” and charged that Kallas treats Israel “obsessively and with blatant unfairness.”
The dispute marks the latest point of tension between Jerusalem and Brussels, where disagreements over sanctions policy and trade arrangements have strained relations in recent years.
A similar dispute arose in 2023, when Israel refused to engage with Kallas’s predecessor, Josep Borrell. The boycott followed the publication of an article in which Borrell compared Israeli settler violence in the West Bank with Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis and criticized plans for judicial reform.
Kallas responded later Thursday in a public message directed at Sa’ar but stopped short of retracting the alleged comments or addressing whether they had been made.
Dear Gideon, as you know, the EU and Israel have a lot that binds us. I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively. Dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy, especially when differences arise. The EU is always…
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) June 18, 2026
“Dear Gideon, as you know, the EU and Israel have a lot that binds us. I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively,” she wrote on X.
“Dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy, especially when differences arise. The EU is always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel,” she continued. Kallas also restated the European Union’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, describing a “two-state solution” as the “only viable path.
“The EU has condemned the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank that make it increasingly difficult to get to that goal. That is the EU position,” she wrote.
The position contrasts with that of Israel’s current government, which opposes the establishment of a Palestinian State.
Sa’ar has previously argued that a two-state solution is an “illusion” and “not a realistic goal,” while warning that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be “suicidal” for Israel’s security.
He has also said that such a state would become a “Hamas state” posing a threat to Israel.
Sa’ar responded to Kallas, pointing out that she had not retracted her reported remarks.
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
He wrote that Kallas had failed to either deny or condemn the alleged apartheid remarks and said that “speaks for itself.”
He added that, to the best of his knowledge, the comments attributed to her do not reflect official European Union policy.
“The matter is simple,” Sa’ar wrote. “If you did indeed make these vile and defamatory statements, stand behind them. If you did not make them, deny it.” He said his decision to suspend contacts would remain in effect until the issue is resolved.
