Israeli foreign minister breaks ties with EU foreign minister

The confrontation took place on social networks. An exchange of replies on X, which seals an apparent diplomatic rupture. “Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Saar announced on Thursday June 18 that Israel would sever relations with Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s high representative for foreign policy… announces the Tel Aviv media Ha’Aretz. In his message on Elon Musk’s social network, Saar mentioned information according to which the head of European diplomacy had compared the Jewish state to South Africa from the apartheid era during a summit in Mexico, which was held from May 20 to 22.

For the Minister of Foreign Affairs, since Kallas would not have provided “denial, clarification or any response concerning his statements†, Israel would have no other choice than “to break all contact with M^me Kallas until she reverses the slanderous accusations she made against the world’s only Jewish state, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East…

Two hours later, the Estonian politician responded, still on X, trying to put an end to the controversy while remaining firm in her positions. “Dear Gideon, as you know, the European Union and Israel have many links. I attach great importance to our dialogue and our collaboration, and I am prepared to continue in this spirit, with respect.†Kallas then highlighted the differences with the Jewish state government. “To achieve peace in the Middle East, the two-state solution remains the only viable path. The EU has condemned illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which make this goal increasingly difficult to achieve.â€

Concretely, the head of European diplomacy did not respond to the Israeli minister’s accusations, which Saar did not fail to notice again, who, on X, once again pressed Kallas to respond to these accusations. More broadly, this post duel is part of a period of turbulence in relations between the EU and Israel.

“We can’t continue like this…

Within the bloc of 27 member states, in fact, positions diverge in relation to the attitude to adopt towards the Jewish state with regard to its action in Gaza. In this context, the association agreement with Israel, which allows commercial exchanges in a free trade framework in several sectors between EU countries and the Jewish state, was put back under discussion last year, without a final decision being taken. the European scale.

Kallas’s words, however, have another implication, which is strictly linked to the Union. Indeed, according to the analysis of the media specializing in European affairs Euractiv (who was the first to reveal the alleged statements that the head of European diplomacy would have made on Israel), “this is not the first time that Kallas has made a diplomatic misstep in recent weeks.†. Thus, the information site recalls that, recently, “During an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, Kallas made a mistake that could have caused tensions between the EU and the United States†. Namely, the fact of declaring that faced with the risk of Russian bombings, diplomats from the American embassy in Ukraine had left kyiv, contrary to what European diplomats would have done. Which is factually false.

But beyond the blunder in itself, analysis Euractiv, it is the entire European External Action Service (EEAS), guided by Kallas, which would crystallize criticism. So much so that “the foreign ministries of certain countries, including France, are beginning to wonder about the future of the latter†. And so, on that of Kallas. “It is obvious that we cannot continue like this… a diplomat who remains anonymous tells Euractiv.