diff --git a/bundles/org.openhab.core.io.net/src/main/java/org/openhab/core/io/net/http/HttpUtil.java b/bundles/org.openhab.core.io.net/src/main/java/org/openhab/core/io/net/http/HttpUtil.java
index 82d02334464..4a40fb3bb4d 100644
--- a/bundles/org.openhab.core.io.net/src/main/java/org/openhab/core/io/net/http/HttpUtil.java
+++ b/bundles/org.openhab.core.io.net/src/main/java/org/openhab/core/io/net/http/HttpUtil.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
-import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLConnection;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Base64;
@@ -152,10 +151,6 @@ public static String executeUrl(String httpMethod, String url, Properties httpHe
     public static String executeUrl(String httpMethod, String url, Properties httpHeaders, InputStream content,
             String contentType, int timeout, String proxyHost, Integer proxyPort, String proxyUser,
             String proxyPassword, String nonProxyHosts) throws IOException {
-        if (url == null) {
-            LOGGER.debug("Execute url failed: no url provided");
-            return null;
-        }
         ContentResponse response = executeUrlAndGetReponse(httpMethod, url, httpHeaders, content, contentType, timeout,
                 proxyHost, proxyPort, proxyUser, proxyPassword, nonProxyHosts);
         String encoding = response.getEncoding() != null ? response.getEncoding().replace("\"", "").trim()
@@ -197,9 +192,17 @@ private static ContentResponse executeUrlAndGetReponse(String httpMethod, String
         // Get shared http client from factory "on-demand"
         final HttpClient httpClient = httpClientFactory.getCommonHttpClient();
 
+        URI uri = null;
+        try {
+            uri = new URI(url);
+        } catch (NullPointerException | URISyntaxException e) {
+            LOGGER.debug("String {} can not be parsed as URI reference", url);
+            throw new IOException(e);
+        }
+
         HttpProxy proxy = null;
         // Only configure a proxy if a host is provided
-        if (proxyHost != null && !proxyHost.isBlank() && proxyPort != null && shouldUseProxy(url, nonProxyHosts)) {
+        if (proxyHost != null && !proxyHost.isBlank() && proxyPort != null && shouldUseProxy(uri, nonProxyHosts)) {
             AuthenticationStore authStore = httpClient.getAuthenticationStore();
             ProxyConfiguration proxyConfig = httpClient.getProxyConfiguration();
             List<Proxy> proxies = proxyConfig.getProxies();
@@ -213,13 +216,6 @@ private static ContentResponse executeUrlAndGetReponse(String httpMethod, String
 
         final HttpMethod method = HttpUtil.createHttpMethod(httpMethod);
 
-        URI uri = null;
-        try {
-            uri = new URI(url);
-        } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-            LOGGER.debug("String {} can not be parsed as URI reference", url);
-            throw new IOException(e);
-        }
         final Request request = httpClient.newRequest(uri).method(method).timeout(timeout, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
 
         if (httpHeaders != null) {
@@ -302,22 +298,21 @@ private static ProxyParams prepareProxyParams() {
 
     /**
      * Determines whether the list of <code>nonProxyHosts</code> contains the
-     * host (which is part of the given <code>urlString</code> or not.
+     * url host (which is part of the given <code>uri</code> or not.
      *
-     * @param urlString
+     * @param uri
      * @param nonProxyHosts
-     * @return <code>false</code> if the host of the given <code>urlString</code> is contained in
+     * @return <code>false</code> if the host of the given <code>uri</code> is contained in
      *         <code>nonProxyHosts</code>-list and <code>true</code> otherwise
      */
-    private static boolean shouldUseProxy(String urlString, String nonProxyHosts) {
+    private static boolean shouldUseProxy(URI uri, String nonProxyHosts) {
         if (nonProxyHosts != null && !nonProxyHosts.isBlank()) {
-            String givenHost = urlString;
+            String givenHost = uri.toString();
 
             try {
-                URL url = (new URI(urlString)).toURL();
-                givenHost = url.getHost();
-            } catch (MalformedURLException | URISyntaxException e) {
-                LOGGER.error("the given url {} is malformed", urlString);
+                givenHost = uri.toURL().getHost();
+            } catch (IllegalArgumentException | MalformedURLException e) {
+                LOGGER.error("the given url {} is malformed", uri.toString());
             }
 
             String[] hosts = nonProxyHosts.split("\\|");
@@ -442,11 +437,6 @@ public static RawType downloadData(String url, String contentTypeRegex, boolean
      */
     public static RawType downloadData(String url, String contentTypeRegex, boolean scanTypeInContent,
             long maxContentLength, int timeout) {
-        if (url == null) {
-            LOGGER.debug("Media download failed: no url provided");
-            return null;
-        }
-
         final ProxyParams proxyParams = prepareProxyParams();
 
         RawType rawData = null;