diff --git a/composition-js/src/merging/merge.ts b/composition-js/src/merging/merge.ts
index 6c367187c..57df2841e 100644
--- a/composition-js/src/merging/merge.ts
+++ b/composition-js/src/merging/merge.ts
@@ -2612,12 +2612,13 @@ class Merger {
     const map = new Map<string, FeatureUrl>();
     for (const linkDirective of schema.schemaDefinition.appliedDirectivesOf<LinkDirectiveArgs>('link')) {
       const { url, import: imports } = linkDirective.arguments();
-      if (imports) {
+      const parsedUrl = FeatureUrl.maybeParse(url);
+      if (parsedUrl && imports) {
         for (const i of imports) {
           if (typeof i === 'string') {
-            map.set(i, FeatureUrl.parse(url));
+            map.set(i, parsedUrl);
           } else {
-            map.set(i.as ?? i.name, FeatureUrl.parse(url));
+            map.set(i.as ?? i.name, parsedUrl);
           }
         }
       }
@@ -2654,9 +2655,10 @@ class Merger {
 
         if (directive.name === 'link') {
           const { url } = directive.arguments();
-          if (typeof url === 'string') {
+          const parsedUrl = FeatureUrl.maybeParse(url);
+          if (typeof url === 'string' && parsedUrl) {
             shouldIncludeAsJoinDirective =
-              this.shouldUseJoinDirectiveForURL(FeatureUrl.parse(url));
+              this.shouldUseJoinDirectiveForURL(parsedUrl);
           }
         } else {
           // To be consistent with other code accessing
diff --git a/internals-js/src/specs/coreSpec.ts b/internals-js/src/specs/coreSpec.ts
index cc809b2de..95ac988da 100644
--- a/internals-js/src/specs/coreSpec.ts
+++ b/internals-js/src/specs/coreSpec.ts
@@ -750,7 +750,14 @@ export class FeatureUrl {
     public readonly element?: string,
   ) { }
 
-  /// Parse a spec URL or throw
+  public static maybeParse(input: string, node?: ASTNode): FeatureUrl | undefined {
+    try {
+      return FeatureUrl.parse(input, node);
+    } catch (err) {
+      return undefined;
+    }
+  }
+    /// Parse a spec URL or throw
   public static parse(input: string, node?: ASTNode): FeatureUrl {
     const url = new URL(input)
     if (!url.pathname || url.pathname === '/') {