Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Thursday that he was halting all contact with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas for reportedly comparing Israel to South Africa’s apartheid regime.

The move led to a public spat between the two as they debated the issue on social media.

In a post on X, Sa’ar charged that Kallas “has for some time now been acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel,” and pointed to a report that she made the apartheid comment in May during high-level talks in Mexico with government representatives.

Unnamed officials and diplomats were cited by the Euractiv outlet last week as saying Kallas compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to the apartheid system that existed in South Africa until the early 1990s. The reported remarks sparked criticism from a number of European representatives.

Sa’ar added that “to date, no denial, clarification or response has been issued by her regarding this severe statement,” leaving him with “no choice but to sever all contact with Ms. Kallas until she retracts the blood libel she directed at the world’s only Jewish state, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East.”

He said he is “grateful to the many European elected representatives who condemned this grave statement,” going on to retweet some such 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… Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#Article_Incontent1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: 'Article_Incontent1', baseDivId: 'Article_Incontent1', } ]); }); } — Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 18, 2026

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........

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