Turkish producer rejects Israel hate claims

The producer of a Turkish TV series, which depicts Israeli soldiers killing Palestinian children, has rejected accusations of inciting hatred against Israel.

The first episode of the drama Separation: Palestine In Love and In War went on air on October 13, portraying Israeli forces as shooting innocent Palestinian civilians, insulting and ridiculing them.

It also showed Israeli soldiers killing a newborn baby, a little girl and an elderly pilgrim on his way to Mecca.

The moving scenes drew a fiery attack from Israeli officials who accused the program of inciting 'hatred against Israel' and said it was 'not worthy of being broadcast even in an enemy state'.

On Thursday, the series producer Selcuk Cobanoglu dismissed the Israeli accusations, stressing that the series' main theme was love.

"This will become more obvious in the upcoming episodes," he said.

The producer, however, said Turkey's state broadcaster TRT has censored scenes from the second episode which show Israeli soldiers shooting a row of blindfolded Palestinians.

Speaking to Milliyet daily newspaper, Cobanoglu said he and his team respected the broadcaster's decision, which came on the heels of Israel's sharp-tongued protests at the program.

"Each broadcaster has its own regulations of supervision... We don't have objections to this situation," he said.

The series topped disputes between Ankara and Tel Aviv, whose bilateral ties had already strained due to Turkey's exclusion of Israel from joint military exercises the week before.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later said the decision was in compliance with the wish of his people in protest at Tel Aviv's three-week onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which killed at least 1,400 Palestinians.

Turkey has said bilateral ties will not recover unless Israel ends 'the humanitarian tragedy' in Gaza and moves toward the revival of peace talks with the Palestinians.