German Member of the European Parliament Elmar Brok said Israel and Europe could both benefit from cooperation and discussion on counterterrorism, and Europe could stand to learn from Israel’s experience in the matter.

Israel and its advocates have argued the labeling is discriminatory but the EU officials who passed it say it is in keeping with consumers’ right to receive accurate information on products.

Israel's Prime Minister slammed the international Middle East conference to be held in Paris on January 15 as ''futile'', saying he feared decisions taken there could spark a new UN resolution against Israel.

'’It is important that between friends we can speak openly. We understand how important direct negotiations are for Israel and it is the role of the international community to create the conditions to advance these direct negotiations,” said Gérard Larcher, President of the French Senate, who is on a visit to Israel this week.

“They talk about peace, we talk about the war against BDS.”

Two European personalities are to visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum and Institute in Jerusalem, on Tuesday.

A city in Spain has nullified a resolution endorsing the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement following legal action by a pro-Israel group.

One young Israeli woman was killed and another wounded in a terrotr attack on a nightclub in Istanbul on New Year.

The European Union continues to believe that the two-state solution constitutes the best way to achieve a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, an EU spokeswoman said one day after US Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech in which he forcefully criticised Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and warned that it was helping put the two-state solution in “serious jeopardy.”