Louis Theroux warned a masked Israeli soldier "don't touch me" during a tense altercation at a military checkpoint in his latest BBC documentary. The filmmaker, 54, was in Hebron, a city in the West Bank, when he approached the checkpoint alongside his crew and a "non-violent" Palestinian resister.

After one of two armed IDF soldiers asked Mr Theroux and his crew, "Why are you filming me?" and told them they can't film the checkpoint, the soldier attempted to physically move the British-American documentarian. "Come with me", the soldier said, as he tried to move the Singapore-born journalist. "No, you can’t do that", Mr Theroux said. "You can’t touch me. You just touched me. Don’t touch me", he added.

After the camera cut, the documentary then shows the IDF soldier attempting to reason with Mr Theroux. "I’m from the military, okay? IDF - Israel Defence Forces. I’m above the police here in the West Bank. I’m the highest responsibility of law. I will tell you like this, okay? As this man, I need to tell you: not staying here, not filming here [sic]."

Mr Theroux replied: "Okay, we’ll move along, that’s fine."

Mr Theroux told the BBC his documentary focuses on the "extremes of an ideology that combines religious zealotry, nationalism, and a militarised support infrastructure." However, critics have pointed out that he spent very little time in the film talking to Israelis who vehemently disagree with the settlements in the West Bank.