EU's Foreign Policy Chief in Hot Water After Accusing Israel of Apartheid

The EU’s foreign policy chief and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, has landed in fresh controversy after reports surfaced that she, during closed-door meetings in Mexico, compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa’s former apartheid system.

According to several officials and diplomats who attended the discussions, Kallas made the statement during a visit to Mexico City between May 20 and 22. The trip was part of a high-level EU delegation attending a major summit in the country.

During the confidential meetings with representatives from the Mexican government, Kallas reportedly spoke about a visit she paid to South Africa last year, where among other activities, she visited the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. In this context, she is said to have drawn parallels between Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank and the racial segregation policies that characterized South Africa until the early 1990s.

The information has provoked strong reactions within the EU’s diplomatic circles. Several officials believe that the comparison extends beyond the official line the union has so far maintained on the Middle East issue.

While the EU has criticized Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank and repeatedly stressed that a two-state solution is the only long-term sustainable way forward, the union has generally avoided using the term “apartheid” to describe Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.

Causing Irritation

A diplomat with insight into the discussions describes the situation as problematic because Kallas is not speaking as a representative of a single member state, but of all 27 member states.

– The EU is critical of Israel and supports a two-state solution. The comparison with apartheid is unacceptable and is not EU policy. It’s a big problem if she makes this kind of statement while officially representing the EU on the world stage, said a diplomat according to Euractiv.

The question of whether Israel’s actions can be compared to apartheid has long been deeply contested. South Africa has made the accusation a central part of its process against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. At the same time, several European countries, including Germany and France, have clearly distanced themselves from such descriptions.

The controversy comes at a sensitive time for the EU’s diplomatic service, the European External Action Service (EEAS), which is already struggling with internal criticism regarding the organization’s efficiency and leadership. Discussions are also ongoing in several member states about how the EU’s foreign policy should be organized going forward.

Several senior positions within the EEAS are currently vacant, while some member states are questioning whether the current structure is appropriate in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical climate.

Recurring Mistakes

Critics argue that the latest controversy is yet another example of what they describe as recurring diplomatic blunders by Kallas. For instance, at a meeting with the EU foreign ministers in Cyprus at the end of May, she incorrectly claimed that US diplomats had left Kyiv after Russian threats of new attacks against the Ukrainian capital.

A senior official within the European Commission is now said to have expressed concern that Kallas has repeatedly made remarks that have caused irritation among member states. According to sources, discontent extends to governments in France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Ireland, among others.

At the same time, a broader discussion is underway regarding the EU’s foreign policy leadership and the future of the European External Action Service. Diplomatic sources describe the situation as increasingly untenable and suggest that institutional changes may be necessary.