A German television documentary aired July 5 is the focus of widespread criticism for equating mild cases of Israeli racism with Palestinian incitement urging their youth to kill.

The documentary appeared on ZDF, a public-service station, on their “Heute” (today) program. Originally titled, “Educated to Hate? How Israeli and Palestinian children are taught to mutually despise each other – and to kill”, the producers were forced to change the title.

ZDF removed the ads featuring the controversial title and broadcast an apology, saying “the wording of the documentary has caused misunderstandings. If someone was hurt by the wording, we ask for their forgiveness.”

The documentary did show Palestinian children being taught how to kill Israelis, with toy knives and stabbing motions. But there was no comparable video of Israeli children being educated in violence. 

The documentary claimed that Israeli children were being taught racist ideology through textbooks with images of Arabs riding camels. However, as critics pointed out, there was a total lack of evidence to validate the claim that Israeli children were indeed being taught to kill. 

Green Party politician Volker Beck asked ZDF via Twitter whether the broadcaster was motivated by a misguided wish to be “evenhanded.”

Nicht Euer Ernst @heuteplus @zdf Klischeezeichnungen & Raketenabschussspielen = das Gleiche? https://t.co/h7DiS3ZSmG pic.twitter.com/IiTKAYMOmQ

— Volker Beck (@Volker_Beck) July 8, 2016

German blogger Gerd Buurmann called the documentary “one of the worst defamations of Jews in modern German history.”

The German newspaper Bild asked, “was this was a mistake or intentional distortion of the facts with an anti-Semitic slant?”

Ynet, an Israeli news site, reported that ZDF has a clear anti-Israel tendency, as evidenced by its past activities.

“Various research institutes have researched the content broadcasted on ZDF, and have found that it is consistently anti-Israel. The station avoided reporting on the murder of 13 year old Hallel Yaffa Ariel who was killed by a Palestinian terrorist in her bed in Kiryat Arba. The station did report on Palestinian injuries which occurred as a result of IDF operations following the girl’s death however.”