French RMC Découverte Channel Apologizes, Removes Film Depicting Nuclear Attack on Tel Aviv

French channel RMC Découverte apologized and removed a documentary about future French weapons systems from all its platforms after it became clear that the film's nuclear attack simulation depicted Tel Aviv as a bombed target.

French channel RMC Découverte aired on September 1 a documentary titled 'Nouveau Rafale, drones et canons: la révolution dans l'armement français,' dealing with future French weapons systems. The film included a three-dimensional simulation of a nuclear attack depicting Tel Aviv as a bombed city. According to reports, the film was viewed by approximately 241,000 viewers.

According to reports, the identification was made by Eloïse Faye, a nuclear researcher at the French IFRI institute, who noticed that the city in the simulation was Tel Aviv. Israeli Ambassador to France Joshua (Yosh) Zarqa raised the matter to headlines by sharing the clip on X, but according to his assessment there was no malicious intent in the use of the simulation. The simulation was meant to illustrate the ASN4G hypersonic nuclear missile, which according to reports is supposed to be 10 to 20 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, with a range of over 1,000 kilometers, and is planned to enter service around 2035.

On September 18, approximately 17 days after the broadcast, the channel announced on X that it was 'immediately removing the documentary from all its platforms' and 'halting all further broadcasts of it.' The channel expressed 'sincere apologies' to viewers and noted that the clip 'came from a professional image database, which catalogued it incorrectly.' According to reports, an independent production company involved in producing the film for the channel took the explosion clip from a computer game, apparently unintentionally.

Film director Alex Gary said he was 'deeply shocked' by the incident, and that the description of the clip in the image database did not indicate that it was of a real city or a city in Israel. According to him, had he known this in advance he would not have included the simulation.