Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar declared on Thursday that he was cutting "all contact" with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas after she reportedly compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the racist apartheid regime in South Africa.

Saar lashed out on social media, claiming Kallas had made the comparison during a recent visit to Mexico. He demanded she retract her statements, revealing the hypersensitivity of Israeli officials whenever their systematic oppression of Palestinians is exposed to the light of day.

Reports from Euractiv, citing diplomats and officials, confirm that Kallas drew direct parallels between Israel's policies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza — including brutal military rule, illegal settlement expansion, segregation walls, checkpoints, and denial of basic rights — and the discriminatory system of apartheid that once oppressed Black South Africans. Such comparisons are increasingly common among human rights experts, UN officials, and even prominent Israeli organizations, who argue that Israel's actions fit the legal definition of apartheid.

For millions of Palestinians, this is not abstract diplomacy — it is daily reality. Generations have endured land theft, home demolitions, settler violence backed by the Israeli state, and a suffocating system of control designed to entrench Jewish supremacy over Palestinian lives and territory. The EU has, albeit belatedly and inconsistently, begun acknowledging some of these abuses: in May it sanctioned Israeli individuals and entities responsible for serious and systematic human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Rather than address the legitimate concerns or halt its illegal settlement project — universally recognized as a war crime under international law and a death blow to any hope of Palestinian freedom — Israel continues to bully and isolate critics. Saar accused Kallas of "obsessive and blatantly unfair" treatment of Israel, a standard deflection tactic used to dodge accountability for war crimes, collective punishment, and the ongoing devastation in Gaza.

The European Union has repeatedly condemned Israel's settlement expansion and its conduct in the Gaza war, which has brought unimaginable suffering to the Palestinian population. Yet deep divisions remain among member states, with some still shielding Israel from meaningful consequences.

Kallas' office has not issued an immediate response. As global awareness of Palestinian dispossession grows, attempts by Israeli leaders like Saar to silence honest criticism only highlight the moral bankruptcy of a regime built on occupation and apartheid. True justice demands an end to this oppression and recognition of Palestinian rights to dignity, equality, and self-determination. (ILKHA)