The Office of Israel ’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu on Monday played down press reports about a meeting between Netanyahu and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Paris on the sidelines of the COP21 conference on climate change, noting that the two had merely shaken hands in the conference’s corridor.

The EU said in response to the Israeli decision to suspend its contacts with the EU vis-à-vis the diplomatic process that it will maintain its role in the efforts to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

‘’Despite Israel’s announcement that it was freezing dialogue on the peace process, EU-Israel relations are good, broad and deep and this will continue,” an EU spokeswoman told reporters in Brussels, according to Reuters.

“When it comes to the Middle East peace process, the EU continues and will continue to work on this in the Quartet with our partners with both parties because of course peace in the Middle East is of interest to the whole international community,” the spokesman added.

EU’s ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen was informed Monday of Israel’s decision to suspend its dialogue with the EU on the peace process pending ‘’reassessment’’ of the EU’s role in thaty process.

The suspension decided by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a response to the EU’s recent decision to issue guidelines for the 28 member states for labeling products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “ordered suspension of diplomatic contacts with the institutions of the European Union and its representatives on this issue,” the foreign ministry said in a Hebrew-language statement. The suspension of ties on peace talks will remain in place “until the reassessment is completed,” it said.

The statement said contacts with individual European countries would continue, but not with the EU organizations on the subject.

Earlier this month, the Israeli foreign ministry already announced it was suspending dialogue with the European Union regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The ministry indicated in a statement that Israel was withdrawing from several bilateral forums dealing with the Palestinian issue.

The suspension was communicated to the EU Ambassador who had been summoned to the foreign ministry for a formal protest over the ‘’Interpretative Notice on indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967.”

The ministry’s political director, Alon Ushpiz, told Lars Faaborg-Andersen that it was regrettable that the EU took the step at a time when Israel is facing a wave of Palestinian terror attacks.

Israel’s envoy to the EU, David Walzer, also informed European officials in Brussels of the measures.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin decided to cancel a visit to Brussels where he was scheduled to address the European Parliament beginning of December.

Netanyahu reacted to the EU’s decision by saying that ‘’it brings back dark memories.’’ ‘’ Europe should be ashamed of itself,’’ he added. ‘’The EU has decided to label only Israel, and we are not prepared to accept the fact that Europe is labeling the side that is being attacked by terrorism.’’

"The EU decision is hypocritical and constitutes a double standard. It singles out Israel and not the 200 other conflicts around the world,’’ he stressed.

He went on to say : ‘’The EU took an immoral decision. Of the hundreds of territorial conflicts around the world, it chose to single out Israel and Israel alone, while it's fighting with its back against the wall against the wave of terror. The European Union is not going to hurt the Israeli economy. It's strong enough to weather this, but it's the Palestinian workers in Israeli enterprises in Judea and Samaria that will be hurt. This will not advance peace; it will certainly not advance truth and justice. It's wrong. Europe should be ashamed of itself."

Both Israeli Minister of Infrastructure, Energy and Water, Yuval Steinitz, and Isaac Herzog, leader of the opposition Zionist Union, blasted the EU decision in a meeting with European journalists in Jerusalem last week. ‘’This kind of labeling is taken only against the sole democracy in the region,’’ Steinitz said. ‘’We cannot see it but as a modern form of discrimination and double standard against the Jewish state,’’ he added, stressing that the EU doesn’t label products from Northern Cyprus or Tibet.

According to Herzog, the EU decision is adverse to peace efforts and will mainly hurt the Palestinians themselves.

The EU has consistently downplayed the impact of the guidelines, saying it was only a “technical matter.”

The European Commission said the labeling would “ensure the uniform application of the rules concerning the indication of origin of Israeli settlement products. The aim is to ensure effective implementation of existing EU legislation.”

The guidelines provide member states with legal instructions as to the placement of consumer labels on products from the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights to inform European consumers that they are not “made in Israel.”

Israel believes the move paves the way to a full boycott of Israeli products. The EU ambassador to Israel has refuted claims that the settlement labeling was tantamount to a boycott of Israeli products.

Israeli daily Haaretz diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid wrote Monday that Israel’s move holds little significance for long-term relations with the Continent.

“Netanyahu’s decision to suspend dialogue with EU institutions is symbolic. De facto, Netanyahu has rebuffed a string of much harsher responses suggested by the Foreign Ministry in recent weeks, eventually choosing the most moderate response which included a public statement devoid of any practical ramifications.”

Israel Hayom featured the decision on its front page with a headline quoting Netanyahu: “Suspend relations with the European Union.”

Britain, Belgium and Denmark already affix labels to Israeli goods, differentiating between those from Israel proper and those, particularly fruit and vegetables, that come from the Jordan Valley.

While the European Commission’s instructions to mark Israeli goods from outside the pre-1967 lines are mandatory for all 28 member states, at least one country has repeatedly vowed to defy them.

“We do not support that decision,” Hungary’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister, Peter Szijjarto, declared. “It is an inefficient instrument. It is irrational and does not contribute to a solution [to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict], but causes damage.”

The Hungarian minister believes that Palestinian employees in Israeli factories in the West Bank would be the first to be hurt if companies were to move their operations to the pre-1067 borders.

Israel's Economy Ministry estimated this would affect goods worth about $50 million a year, including grapes and dates, wine, poultry, honey, olive oil and cosmetics made from Dead Sea minerals.

That is around a fifth of the $200 million to $300 million worth of goods produced in settlements each year, but a drop in the ocean next to the $30 billion of goods and services traded annually between Israel and the European Union.

Israeli farmers and wine growers affected by the EU decision have expressed worry about its impact on their business and some have begun diversifying into markets in Russia and Asia to escape EU rules.