A BBC documentary claiming Israel has used nerve gas against Palestinians and possesses an arsenal of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons has raised the ire of the Israeli government.
Israel is lobbying Australia’s national broadcaster, ABC television, to abandon plans to air “Israel’s Secret Weapon,” the Australian Associated Press, or AAP, reported.
ABC says the program will be broadcast, but it has not yet been scheduled.
“It’s definitely in our system, we will be showing it, we just don’t know when,” an ABC publicist told the AAP.
Daniel Seaman, head of Israel’s government press service, charges the program borders on Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitism.
“The thrust of the program was demonizing Israel by presenting and portraying it as a pariah state, a country of the axis of evil if you want,” said Gaby Levy, Israel’s ambassador to Australia.
“Every country has a right to have secrets if they belong to its own security, self-defense and so on,” he added
Because of the program, Israeli has barred its officials from appearing on the BBC and visa restrictions have been imposed on BBC journalists.
Similar action would not be taken against ABC, Levy said, because it was not involved in the documentary’s production.
