Israel cuts ties with the EU's top diplomat over an apartheid comparison. Legitimate protest, or silencing legitimate criticism?
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced he is severing all contact with Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, after a Euractiv report — citing unnamed diplomatic sources — claimed that Kallas compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to apartheid-era South Africa during a private visit to Mexico. Saar accused Kallas of acting 'obsessively and with blatant unfairness' toward Israel and said he will no longer communicate with her. Kallas has not publicly confirmed or denied the comparison. The move comes amid longstanding strain between the EU and Israel over Gaza, the West Bank and Israeli settlement-building.
The summary above is a neutral framing. Below, each side reports the same story in its own words — judge for yourself.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he is severing all contact with Kallas, accusing her of acting 'obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel' over a sustained period. He pointed to a Euractiv report alleging that Kallas compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to apartheid-era South Africa during a private meeting in Mexico — a comparison Israel views as a delegitimising smear that goes far beyond criticism and into the realm of anti-Israel hostility. DW notes the report relied on unnamed diplomatic sources and that Kallas has not confirmed the remarks, but Saar said the pattern of behaviour left him no choice but to cut ties.
Kallas has not publicly confirmed the apartheid comparison, and the Euractiv report was based on unnamed sources — a detail Israel has not addressed in its public statements. The move coincides with broader EU-Israel tensions over Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank, where Israeli settlement-building on occupied Palestinian territory is considered illegal under international law by the EU and most UN members. The apartheid comparison — which Kallas may or may not have made privately — is used by prominent human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in their assessments of Israel's policies toward Palestinians. Critics argue Israel is attempting to silence legitimate accountability by branding any comparison of its policies as bias rather than engaging with the underlying legal and factual questions.
