EU foreign policy chief has reportedly compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa’s apartheid era during closed-doors high-level talks in Mexico City, EU affairs news website Euractiv reported citing officials and diplomats.
Kallas, who is a former Estonian Prime Minister and took her post as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in December 2024, travelled to Mexico City from 20 to 22 May as part of a senior EU delegation attending a major summit in the country. During closed-door and confidential meetings with Mexican government representatives, Kallas compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to the racist apartheid policies of South Africa, which ended in the early 1990s.
Officials and diplomats, including those present at the meeting, told Euractiv that she described how moved she was by a visit last year to South Africa and its apartheid museum in the capital, Johannesburg.
Her reported statements are likely to drew criticism from several EU countries.
“The EU is critical of Israel and supports a two-state solution. The comparison with apartheid is unacceptable and not EU policy. It is a big problem if she is making these kinds of statements while officially representing the EU on the world stage,” said one EU diplomat, according to Euractiv.
Kallas’ comments ‘fuelling the antisemitism fire in Europe’
The statements drew strong ractions from Jewish groups.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association (EJA), which represents many hundreds of Jewish communities across the continent, stated that Kallas’ comments are “fuelling the antisemitism fire in Europe.”
“We had hoped that such blatantly false language was in the past, buried deep along with the dubious legacy of Josep Borrell. It is a pity that after such a promising start, the High Representative is reverting to her predecessor’s type,’’ he said, in a reference to Kallas’ Spanish predecessor who had a record of anti-Israel statements since October 7 2023 and the Israeli military offensive against terrorist Hamas in Gaza.At the time, Kallas’ appointment as a successor to Borrell was greeted with relief in Israel as she was expected to be more balanced on Middle East issues.
“Apartheid, just like genocide, is a very important word. It carries weight and is pregnant with emotional and historical meaning. To use it in such a context diminishes it. It is an absolute falsehood: there is absolutely nothing that even resembles apartheid in Israel,’’ Margolin said, addingn that ‘’it also plays directly into the hands of those that are responsible for the antisemitism crisis that is plaguing the continent and making life so incredibly difficult for European Jewry.’’
“The High Representative should know that Jewish activists played a disproportionately large role in the South African anti-apartheid movement. Driven by a cultural history of persecution, many risked their lives, imprisonment, and exile to fight the regime as lawyers, underground operatives, and political leaders,’’ he said.
“Kaja Kallas, through her words, is directly adding fuel to the antisemitic fire. The EJA urges Foreign Ministers to recognise this danger, and to distance themselves from her remarks,’’ Margolin concluded.
On X, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) said it was ‘’deeply concerned by reports that European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa. Such a characterization departs from the longstanding position of the EU, misrepresents the historical reality of apartheid and fuels a dangerous campaign to delegitimize Israel.’’
The AJC urged Kallas ‘’to clarify and retract these reported remarks.’’ ‘’The apartheid label has been repeatedly rejected by the EU itself, the United States, and many democratic governments around the world.’’