Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced via an X post Thursday that he has severed all contact with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas for comparing Israel’s policies toward Arabs in the territories to South African apartheid during a recent trip to Mexico City. Her comments, made in closed-door sessions with representatives of the Mexican government, were reported on the foreign affairs website Euractiv.

Accusing her of “acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel,” he said that, “Recently, it was published that during her visit to Mexico, she compared Israel to the racist apartheid regime that existed in South Africa” and expressed gratitude to the European leaders who condemned her statements.

Euractiv reported that European diplomats distanced themselves from her remarks.

“The comparison with apartheid is unacceptable and not E.U. policy. It is a big problem if she is making these kinds of statements while officially representing the E.U. on the world stage,” an E.U. diplomat said.

Sa’ar said in his statement that thus far, Kallas has not retracted or apologized for her remarks, which he characterized as a “blood libel.”

“However, to date, no denial, clarification or response has been issued by her regarding this severe statement,” he wrote. “Therefore, as the Foreign Minister of the State of Israel, I have no choice but to sever all contact with Ms. Kallas until she retracts the blood libel she directed at the world’s only Jewish state, which is also the only democracy in the Middle East.”

“And this is what I am doing,” he declared.

In her response, Kallas sought to present herself as above the fray by chiding Sa’ar about the need to engage in fruitful discourse without addressing her own comments that sparked Sa’ar’s decision to cut off contact.

In a tweet in which she addressed the foreign minister with “Dear Gideon,” she said, “I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively. Dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy, especially when differences arise.”

“The EU is always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel,” she added. “To bring peace to the Middle East, the Two-State Solution remains the only viable path. The EU has condemned the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank that make it increasingly difficult to get to that goal. That is the EU position.”

But is it the E.U.’s position that Israel is akin to South African apartheid? She didn’t say, and Sa’ar was having none of it.

“Madam,” he wrote. “With all due respect, even in your remarks here you refrain from denying or condemning what has been attributed to you and published publicly. That speaks for itself. To the best of my knowledge, the statements attributed to you regarding ‘apartheid’ do not reflect the position of the European Union.”

“The matter is simple: if you did indeed make these vile and defamatory statements, stand behind them,” he declared. “If you did not make them, deny it. Until this matter is cleared up, my decision will remain unchanged.”