Israel's foreign minister announced on Thursday that he was cutting off all ties with European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, the decision following reports that she had compared Israel to the apartheid regime that once ruled South Africa.

“Diplomatic relations between Israel and the EU have been strained since the war in Gaza began in October 2023. Tensions have also been rising over Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

 

On Thursday, Gideon Saar accused EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas of "obsessive behavior and obvious bias" toward Israel.

 

"It was recently reported that during a visit to Mexico she compared Israel to the racist apartheid regime that existed in South Africa," Saar wrote on the social network X.

 

"However, she has not yet provided any denial, explanation or response to this statement," he said.

 

“Therefore, as Foreign Minister of the State of Israel, I have no choice but to sever all ties with Kallas until she renounces this bloody slander directed against the only Jewish state in the world, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East,” he said.

 

According to the European news portal Euractiv, Kallas made the remarks during a closed-door meeting with Mexican government officials during a visit to the country last month.

 

Saar’s comments came after Kallas said this week that the EU would consider restricting trade with Israeli settlements, following calls from several member states.

 

Kallas also noted that some EU countries have proposed imposing sanctions on Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, although there is no consensus yet.

 

Any EU sanctions must be approved by all 27 member states, and Israel’s staunchest supporters oppose such measures.

 

Calls to blacklist Ben Gvira intensified after he released a video last month in which he mocked bound activists detained by Israeli soldiers during an aid flotilla heading to the Gaza Strip.

 

Israeli settler violence in the West Bank has intensified since the start of the Gaza war, with human rights groups reporting almost daily attacks on Palestinians and their property.

 

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and settlement expansion has been a consistent policy of Israeli governments since then.

 

However, this expansion has accelerated significantly under the current coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 people currently live in the West Bank. in Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, among approximately three million Palestinians.”