Israel’s foreign minister said on Thursday that he was severing all contact with the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, over reported remarks in which she allegedly compared Israel to the apartheid regime that once ruled South Africa.

Diplomatic relations between Israel and the EU have come under heavy strain since the Gaza conflict erupted in October 2023, as well as over violence by Israeli settlers towards Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

On Thursday, Gideon Saar accused EU foreign policy chief Kallas of “acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness” towards Israel.

“Recently, it was published that during her visit to Mexico, she compared Israel to the racist apartheid regime that existed in South Africa,” Saar wrote on X.

“However, to date, no denial, clarification or response has been issued by her regarding this severe statement.

“Therefore, as the foreign minister of the State of Israel, I have 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.

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

Kallas responded to Saar’s comments on Thursday by emphasising the need for continued dialogue between the EU and Israel, but declined to address the alleged “apartheid” remarks.

“I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively,” Kallas wrote on X.

“The EU is always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel. To bring peace to the Middle East, the Two-State Solution remains the only viable path.

“The EU has condemned the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank that make it increasingly difficult to get to that goal. That is the EU position,” Kallas added.

‘Vile and defamatory’

Saar swiftly responded to Kallas, saying his decision “will remain unchanged” until she clarifies whether she made the “apartheid” remarks.

“The matter is simple: if you did indeed make these vile and defamatory statements, stand behind them,” he said in a new post on X.

“If you did not make them, deny it. Until this matter is cleared up, my decision will remain unchanged.”

Earlier this week, Kallas said the EU would explore options for restricting trade with Israeli settlements following calls from several member countries.

Kallas also noted that a number of EU countries had proposed sanctions against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, although no consensus has yet emerged.

The EU has also criticised Israel’s conduct ​in the conflict in Gaza while reaffirming Israel’s right to defend itself. Any EU sanctions have to be signed off on by all 27 member states, and staunch supporters of Israel have opposed such measures.

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Calls to blacklist Ben Gvir grew after he published a video last month of himself mocking bound activists, some of them from European Union member states, who were seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

Violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank has increased since the start of the Gaza conflict. Rights groups report near-daily attacks on Palestinians and their property.

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

But it has accelerated significantly under the current coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians.

The EU has criticised Israel’s expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, widely viewed as illegal under international law and as an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In May, the EU sanctioned three individuals and ​four entities that it said ​were responsible for “serious and ⁠systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank”. Saar said at the time that Israel firmly rejected the decision.