Israel has banned imports of Apple's iPad and says the strength of its wireless receivers and transmitters and could disrupt other wireless devices.
The blanket ban prevents anyone - even tourists - from bringing an iPad into Israel until machines comply with local transmitter standards.
Presently, the iPad is only available for sale in the US. Apple said on Wednesday that the international sales of the product will only start next month, but that would not include Israel.
The iPad is a lightweight tablet combining the features of a notebook computer with the touch-pad functions of the iPod. It went on sale in the US on April 3.
Israeli officials said the ban has nothing to do with trade and is simply a precaution to assure that the iPad doesn't disrupt service for wireless devices already in use in Israel.
"If you operate equipment in a frequency band which is different from the others that operate on that frequency band, then there will be interference," said Nati Schubert, a senior deputy director for the Communications Ministry. "We don't care where people buy their equipment ... but without regulation, you would have chaos."
The US Federal Communications Commission allows Wi-Fi broadcasting at higher power levels than are allowed in Europe and Israel - meaning that the stronger signal could consume too much bandwidth, or throw off others' wireless connections, according to Schubert.
Apple's chief distributor in Israel, iDigital, declined to comment on the Communications Ministry's decision, and a message left at Apple's headquarters in California was not immediately returned.
