Israel has accidently broadcast footage across the Middle East of a secret long-range artillery missile test.
Israel's Channel 10 television captured an unencrypted livefeed from one weapons-testing control room to another that was bounced off Israel's Amos communications satellite this week.
The channel broadcast an edited version to viewers on its main evening news programme on Wednesday that showed technicians watching the launch and monitoring data-filled computer screens.
At one point, the camera showed two Israeli generals,including the deputy chief of staff, looking on.
"It was a serious lapse that should not have occurred,"Yuval Shteinitz, chairman of parliament's foreign affairs andsecurity committee, told Israel Radio today.
"Luckily, this mishap . . . did not involve highly classified systems or tests," he said about the Israel Aircraft Industries' launch of what it described in a statement as a long-rangeartillery shell.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronothsaid theweapon was designed to hit targets 30 miles away.