Germany’s public broadcaster has announced it will show a documentary on anti-Semitism in Europe after accusations of political censorship, The Times of Israel reported Monday.

The documentary titled “Chosen and Excluded – Jew Hatred in Europe,” directed by Joachim Schröder and Sophie Hafner, has become the subject of great controversy over the last five months.

The documentary was originally commissioned and approved by Germany’s public broadcaster WDR on behalf of its partner channel Arte. The Franco-German TV network, however, refused to show the documentary over accusations of pro-Israel bias in violation of production guidelines.

ARD’s decision to air the documentary on Wednesday comes after mounting public pressure and accusations of political censorship. Germany’s prominent tabloid Die Bild Zeitung leaked the documentary last Tuesday and made it available on its website for 24 hours to protest the boycott.

Julian Reichelt, Bild’s editor-in-chief, raised the suspicion that the documentary was being withheld to hide inconvenient truths about modern-day anti-Semitism in Europe. “It is suspected that the documentary is not being shown [on television] because it is politically unsuitable and because the film shows an antisemitic worldview in wide parts of society that is disturbing,” Reichel wrote on Bild’s website.

Emmanuel Nahshon, the spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told Benjamin Weinthal of The Jerusalem Post last Thursday, “Israel believes the film should be shown and we find the decision not to show it very disturbing. Bild is to be congratulated for its initiative. The European public opinion should know the truth.”

The film will air on Wednesday, June 21 on WDR at 10:15 p.m. (CET).

[Photo: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum / YouTube ]