French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann claimed that a 5-star hotel in Berlin removed Israel from the phone list.

The claim drew a firm denial from Hotel Bristol Kempinski.

In articles in French newspaper Le Figaro and German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Lanzmann, who is famous for his movie “Shoah”, said he learned during a visit this month to the Berlin l that the hotel had removed Israel’s 972 country code from the list provided to guests in their hotel rooms.

Lanzmann said a member of the hotel staff who identified himself as Jewish told him that “most of our clients are Arabs” and that they had asked that Israel be taken off the list.

The hotel director Birgitt Ullerich denied there were any such instructions.

She told The Associated Press that only 34 countries were on the list and Israel's absence "was simply an oversight."

The hotel is part of the Kempinski group, which has its roots in a restaurant founded by German Jewish businessman Berthold Kempinski.

A Kempinski spokesperson said ‘’the phone list included only 35 countries. Israel has now been added.’’

“If we hurt Mr. Lanzmann’s feelings with the omission of the Israeli country code, we sincerely ask for his forgiveness.”

In his Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung article, Lanzmann said he decided to describe his experience “to let readers know, and to challenge them to act now.”

“Because you can’t fight against Arab terrorism and at the same time accept the elimination of Israel from one of Berlin’s most prestigious, most important hotels,” he wrote. “To erase Israel is the same as demanding the erasure of Israelis. That they be killed.”

Berlin Interior Minister Frank Henkel has urged the hotel to investigate Lanzmann's allegation.