The chief legal officer of the European Union’s foreign service advised the department’s top official that a new opinion by judges in The Hague does not require EU states to ban goods imported from Israeli settlements, according to a leaked analysis.

Legal experts said that the analysis contradicts the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, ruling that states should end all support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In a seven-page memo, Frank Hoffmeister, the director of the EU foreign service’s legal department, argued that while European law required the labeling of settlement products, a ban on their import and sale was still up for debate.

“EU law requires labelling indicating that foodstuffs originate in the West Bank and settlements,” Hoffmeister’s analysis says. “It is a matter of further political appreciation whether to revisit the EU’s policy vis-à-vis the import of goods from the settlements.”

The legal advice, which is reproduced below in full, was sent to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on July 22, three days after the ICJ decided that states must not “render aid or assistance in maintaining” Israel’s illegal occupation.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, told The Intercept that the EU’s attitude to the ICJ opinion was “legally flawed, politically damaging, and morally compromised.”

“The EU is neglecting its responsibility to uphold international law,” she said. “This bending of rules for political convenience erodes the credibility of EU foreign policy and betrays the trust of people beyond Palestine.”

“The EU’s approach also sets a dangerous precedent by treating its obligations under the ICJ advisory opinion as optional, especially amid ongoing atrocities,” Albanese said. “This implies that compliance with international law is discretionary and undermines trust in the international legal system.”