French channel RMC Découverte apologizes and removes film depicting nuclear strike on Tel Aviv

The French channel RMC Découverte apologized and removed from all its platforms a documentary about future French weapon systems after it was revealed that the film's simulation of a nuclear strike depicted Tel Aviv as the bombed target.

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

According to reports, the identification was made by Aloise Faye, a nuclear researcher at French institute IFRI, who noticed that the city in the simulation was Tel Aviv. Israel's ambassador to France Yossi Zarka raised the matter to headlines by sharing the clip on platform X, but according to his assessment there was no malicious intent in using the simulation. The simulation was intended to illustrate the hypersonic nuclear missile ASN4G, which according to reports is supposed to be 10 to 20 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, and is planned to enter service around 2035.

On September 18, about 17 days after the broadcast, the channel announced on platform X that it is 'immediately removing the documentary from all its platforms' and 'suspending any further broadcast of it.' The channel expressed 'sincere apologies' to viewers and noted that the clip 'came from a professional image archive, which incorrectly identified and cataloged it.' According to reports, an independent production company that worked on producing the film took the explosion clip from a video game, apparently unintentionally.

In a statement, the film's director, Alex Gary, said he is 'deeply shocked' by the incident, and that the description of the clip in the image archive did not indicate that it was a real city or a city in Israel. According to him, had he known that in advance, he would not have incorporated the simulation.