Adolf Hitler
Adolf HitlerThinkstock

The Thai junta (military regime) was forced to recall a propaganda movie on "Thai values" on Wednesday, after the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok and hundreds of people on social media protested an image showing a smiling boy painting an image of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. 

The short film, which has been screened before every movie in Thai cinemas since Saturday, features scenes with two Thai boys in their daily lives, with the message being that life includes both winning and losing, according to Thai prime ministerial official Panadda Diskul. 

"The film is good, but it has caused a slight misunderstanding in our society," Panadda said. "We won't stop the project, but we will replace that problematic picture with another, more proper one."

Film director Kulp Kaljarek told AFP he did not mean to offend anyone, but was merely attempting to show moral progress. 

Meanwhile, Israel's ambassador to Thailand, Simon Roded, told the Daily Mail he was "deeply saddened" by the "trivialization" of Nazi imagery in the Thai film, and that "none of the smart, well educated people checking it had identified it as being problematic and offensive" during the screening process.

He called for Holocaust education to be introduced to the Thai curriculum.