Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for temporarily suspended diplomatic contact with EU bodies and their representatives. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – In the aftermath of the European Union’s decision to drop “Made in Israel” labels on Israeli products from Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday suspended Israel’s relations with EU diplomatic contacts on their involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Israel will continue to have government-to-government contact with individual EU member nations, but not with EU-wide institutions until Israel reassesses the European bloc’s diplomatic role in the peace process.

An EU spokesperson said Monday that the EU would keep working on the peace process through the Middle East Quartet (United Nations, United States, EU, and Russia) as well as its Arab partners despite Israel’s decision, because “peace in the Middle East [is] an issue of interest to the entire international community and also to all Europeans.”

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on Monday asked Netanyahu for a clarification of the peace process directive. Mogherini and Netanyahu spoke briefly at the World Climate Change Summit in Paris.