Kaja Kallas accused of anti-Semitism; to discredit European foreign policy

Kaja Kallas, head of European diplomacy,
accused of anti-Semitism after comparing Israel to apartheid

A Brussels media reported that Kaja Kallas, high representative
of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy,
Reportedly Compared Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians
to that of apartheid South Africa. The American Jewish Committee
denounced these remarks, calling them
“fueling a dangerous campaign to delegitimize Israel.”

Kaja Kallas, haute représentante de l’Union européenne
and vice-president for foreign affairs
and security policy.
Credit: AFP/NICOLAS TUCAT

Ben Kroll, HaaretzSunday June 14, 2026

European Union chief diplomat Kaja Kallas was accused of anti-Semitism over the weekend after an article reported that she compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to that of South Africa during the apartheid era.

The Belgian site Euractiv reported on Friday that Ms. Kallas, former Prime Minister of Estonia, made the comparison during a closed-door meeting while she was visiting Mexico in May. The site did not publish a direct quote from Ms. Kallas, but reported that officials and diplomats at the meeting said she spoke of being deeply moved by a visit last year to Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ms Kallas’s office refused to comment on this information to Euractiv.

The American Jewish Committee said it was “deeply concerned” by the comparison, adding that “such characterization departs from the EU’s long-standing position, distorts the historical reality of apartheid, and fuels a dangerous campaign to delegitimize Israel.”

The AJC added that it was urging Kallas to clarify and retract the statement: “The term apartheid has been repeatedly rejected by the EU itself, by the United States and by many democratic governments around the world. HAS”

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Armin Laschet, former leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union and current chairman of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized Kallas for the comparison, writing that EU member states could not allow him to ” discrediting European foreign policy week after week with its incoherent remarks ».

« Les récentes déclarations antisémites [de Kallas] are unacceptable. We need a stronger Europe, with personalities worthy of their role,” he wrote.

Credit: THILO SCHMUELGEN/Reuters

Another CDU member, Hildegard Bentele – chair of the EU-Israel delegation in the European Parliament – said Kallas’s “remarks” “further undermine confidence in the European foreign policy apparatus “. She added that the comparison between Israel and apartheid South Africa “is not only fundamentally wrong, but also completely unacceptable from someone speaking on behalf of the EU.”

Henrik Dahl, Ms Bentele’s colleague in the European Parliament and a member of the Danish Liberal Alliance, said that while Mr Kallas was right on a wide range of issues, the comparison with apartheid was “factually completely wrong”.

“It is also an insult to the many victims of South Africa’s illegitimate regime. And to top it all off, this only repeats the anti-Israeli propaganda that has invaded public space and social networks in recent years. It can only be a mistake,” he wrote.

Last month, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli launched a personal attack on Kallas in response to EU sanctions on Israeli settler groups in the West Bank. Accusing the EU of “obsessive hatred of Israel and outright anti-Semitism,” Chikli said Kallas wanted “Judea too to be made Judenrein” — using the biblical name for much of the West Bank and invoking the Nazi term for the areas considered “purified from the Jews”.

Ben Kroll, HaaretzSunday June 14, 2026 (DeepL translation)