The Israel embassy in India on Friday expressed concern over the “trivialisation” of the significance of the Holocaust in the Hindi film Bawaal that recently premiered on Amazon Prime, after a prominent Jewish group called for its removal from the OTT platform for using the Auschwitz concentration camp as a metaphor for relationship problems and human greed.

The Israeli embassy said in a tweet: “The Israeli embassy is disturbed by the trivialisation of the significance of the Holocaust in the recent movie ‘Bawaal’. There was a poor choice in the utilisation of some terminology in the movie, and though we assume no malice was intended, we urge everyone who may not be fully aware of the horrors of the Holocaust to educate themselves about it.”

Israel’s ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, posteda similarly worded tweet, maintaining that he had not seen the film and did not plan to watch it either. “...From what I’ve read, there was a poor choice of terminology and symbolism. Trivialisation of the Holocaust should disturb all. I urge thosewho don’t know enough about the horrors of the #Holocaust to educate themselves about it.”

The embassy and the ambassador stepped in after the call for the removal of the film from the OTT platform was reported by the international media. The US-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre (SWC) — a human rights NGO dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust — had earlier this week urged Amazon Prime to take down the film “due to its outlandish abuse of the Nazi Holocaust as a plot device”. Bawaal had a direct release on Prime.