(VOVworld) - Israel announced on Wednesday it would suspend several planned talks and forums with the European Union in retaliation for a decision to label products from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the European Union "should be ashamed" for its decision (photo: AFP)

Israel's foreign ministry said that it had summoned the EU's ambassador to Tel Aviv, Lars Faarborg, to a meeting with senior ministry officials in Jerusalem to inform him that Israel would not attend "various forums that were supposed to be held in the coming weeks".
This is the first reaction from Israel following the European Commission’s regulation that agricultural and cosmetic goods produced in the West Bank, East Bank, and Golan Heights must be labeled as such.
The EC insisted that the guidelines issued on Wednesday were not political, but clarify existing consumer-protection rules to ensure they are interpreted and implemented uniformly.