Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday said he was cutting ties to the EU's foreign policy representative Kaja Kallas, challenging her to address a Euractiv media report claiming that she compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to Apartheid South Africa in a visit to Mexico last month.
The move comes amid strain on EU relations with Israel amid the conflicts that followed the October 7, 2023 attacks and more longstanding points of disagreement like Israeli settlement-building in occupied Palestinian territory.
It also coincides with Kallas, formerly the Estonian prime minister, facing internal pressure and reports of dissatisfaction with her performance from several European governments for other gaffes or perceived mistakes in her role atop the European External Action Service (EEAS).What did Saar say about cutting ties to Kallas?
Saar prefaced his comments online by saying that, "for some time now," Kallas had been "acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel."
He then alluded to the June 12 report from Euractiv alleging that she had compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to the behavior of South Africa's apartheid regime.
