Lebanon has banned the movie "The Post" days before the movie was scheduled to premiere in Beirut, a source told The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie's director, Steven Spielberg, is on the country's "Boycott Israel" list because of his 1993 film "Schindler's List," which contained scenes that were filmed in Jerusalem.
The movie was presented to the country's censorship board, which banned the film, a source involved in the movie's international rollout told the Reporter.
Lebanon is officially at war with Israel. The decades-old policy boycotts Israeli products and forbids citizens of Lebanon from traveling or having contact with Israelis, The Times of Israel reported.
The issue was turned over to Lebanon's Minister of Interior and Municipalities, who could overturn the ban, the Hollywood Reporter noted.
The source said the news was a shock because at least five previous films including "The BFG" and "Bridge of Spies" that were directed or produced by Spielberg were accepted and approved for the country.
The movie is about Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, played by Meryl Streep, and editor Ben Bradlee, played by Tom Hanks, in their publishing of the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s.
In addition to "The Post," Lebanon also banned "Jungle," a movie about Israeli adventurer Yossi Ghinsberg that stars Daniel Radcliffe, according to the Times of Israel.
Previously, in 2017, the Lebanon government also banned the film "Wonder Woman" because its star, Gal Gadot, is an Israeli citizen, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
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