{"id":127840,"date":"2026-06-18T18:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=127840"},"modified":"2026-06-18T18:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:38:20","slug":"israeli-fm-says-he-is-severing-all-contact-with-eu-foreign-policy-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli FM says he is severing &#8216;all contact&#8217; with EU foreign policy chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)- European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar exchanged words on X after Kallas reportedly compared Israel\u2019s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to South Africa\u2019s apartheid-era policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saar said he was severing \u201call contact\u201d with the EU official after Kallas posted that the EU remains committed to a constructive relationship with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a post on X addressed to Saar, the EU\u2019s top diplomat said: \u201cI value our dialogue and engagement, and I\u2019m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kallas added that the EU remains committed to the two-state solution and has reiterated that the bloc has condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a post on social media, Saar said Kallas had reportedly \u201ccompared Israel to the racist apartheid regime\u201d during a visit to Mexico and that as a result he was severing contact until she retracted the comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In subsequent posts on X, the Israeli minister shared posts from other accounts that mentioned or referenced a June 12 report by European news website&nbsp;<em>Euractiv<\/em>, which cited unnamed officials and diplomats as saying that, during a visit to Mexico last month, Kallas had compared Israel\u2019s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to South Africa\u2019s apartheid-era policies, a system of legally enforced racial segregation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EU has criticised Israel\u2019s expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which are widely viewed as illegal under international law and as an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May, the EU&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1999506\">sanctioned<\/a>&nbsp;three individuals and four entities that it said were responsible for \u201cserious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1999449\">Saar at the time said<\/a>&nbsp;Israel firmly rejected the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following Kallas\u2019 response to Saar\u2019s post, the Israeli minister said that Kallas\u2019 statement doesn\u2019t reflect the EU\u2019s position, characterising her original statement as \u201cshameful and libelous\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Israeli minister also accused Kallas of \u201cacting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EU has previously criticised Israel\u2019s conduct in the war in Gaza while reaffirming its right to defend itself. But the bloc\u2019s 27 member states are divided, with some highly critical of Israel and others maintaining close ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this year, both the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1987331\">EU<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1965637\">United Nations<\/a>&nbsp;issued statements criticising Israel, likening its treatment of Palestinians to South Africa\u2019s apartheid policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar exchanged words on X after Kallas reportedly compared Israel\u2019s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to South Africa\u2019s apartheid-era policies. Saar said he was severing \u201call contact\u201d with the EU [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Israeli FM says he is severing &#039;all contact&#039; with EU foreign policy chief - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israeli FM says he is severing &#039;all contact&#039; with EU foreign policy chief - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar exchanged words on X after Kallas reportedly compared Israel\u2019s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to South Africa\u2019s apartheid-era policies. Saar said he was severing \u201call contact\u201d with the EU [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T13:38:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T13:38:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-3-22.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/\",\"name\":\"Israeli FM says he is severing 'all contact' with EU foreign policy chief - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-3-22.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T13:38:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-18T13:38:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-3-22.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-3-22.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Israeli FM says he is severing &#8216;all contact&#8217; with EU foreign policy chief\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israeli FM says he is severing 'all contact' with EU foreign policy chief - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/127840\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israeli FM says he is severing 'all contact' with EU foreign policy chief - Nation","og_description":"Web desk(National Times)- European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar exchanged words on X after Kallas reportedly compared Israel\u2019s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to South Africa\u2019s apartheid-era policies. 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