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Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) arrives at the EU summit, the meeting of European Union heads of state and government, and speaks with journalists. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa
Keystone
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) opposes comparing Israel to an apartheid system, as EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Kaja Kallas is reported to have done, according to media reports. “I expressly do not agree with that choice of words,” Merz said ahead of a meeting with the heads of state and government of EU countries in Brussels. He noted that it is an issue that still needs to be discussed in detail within the European Council.
Israel had previously severed contact with EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Kaja Kallas in response to such a comparison. The website “Euractiv” had reported that Kallas had made such remarks in May during a visit to Mexico regarding Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Kallas neither confirmed nor denied this. “It is true that we do not always see eye to eye with the Israelis,” she said in Brussels.
Following criticism from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar regarding her choice of words, Kallas wrote to him on the platform X: “I value our dialogue and cooperation and am ready to continue them in this spirit—respectfully and constructively.” To achieve peace in the Middle East, the two-state solution remains the only viable path. The United Nations views Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as an obstacle to a two-state solution, in which Israel and an independent Palestinian state would coexist peacefully.
The term “apartheid” originally referred to the state-sanctioned system of racial segregation in South Africa (1948–1994), which ensured the dominance of the white minority. Under international law, apartheid is considered a crime against humanity. Today, the term is also used outside the South African context and remains the subject of ongoing political and legal controversy.
18.06.2026, 18:25
