Overview
- Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar announced on Thursday that he was breaking off all contact with EU High Representative Kaja Kallas until she retracts or clarifies media reports that she likened Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank to South African apartheid.
- Kallas replied on social media by stressing the value of dialogue and her readiness to continue constructive relations but she has not publicly and explicitly denied the specific apartheid comparison attributed to her.
- The allegation traces to reports by Euractiv and the Jüdische Allgemeine about a closed meeting in Mexico, and no independent official transcript or confirmation of Kallas’s exact wording has been published.
- Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly distanced himself from the reported language, illustrating how EU capitals are divided over both tone and policy toward Israel after recent EU steps targeting settlement-linked abuses.
- The row could complicate talks at the upcoming EU summit, slow cooperation on trade and sanctions issues tied to settlements, and make it harder to coordinate humanitarian and diplomatic responses in the region.