San Francisco:
Apple promised Thursday that it would prevent a Palestinian flag emoji from being suggested to some iPhone users when they type “Jerusalem” into messages.
The Silicon Valley tech giant blamed a software bug, prompting accusations that Apple was showing anti-Israel bias amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Apple told AFP that the predictive emoji suggestion in the iPhone keyboard was not intentional and would be fixed in the next update to its mobile operating system.
This oddity was pointed out on social media by British television presenter Rachel Riley, who renewed the debate over whether Israel or the Palestinians can legitimately claim Jerusalem as their capital.
“When I type in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, I am presented with the Palestinian flag emoji,” Riley wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, calling on Apple to explain.
She pointed out that no flag emojis were suggested when a series of other capitals were typed into iPhone messages.
“Demonstrating double standards regarding Israel is a form of anti-Semitism, which in itself is a form of racism against the Jewish people,” Riley argued in the post.
She said the Palestinian flag emoji appeared in connection with Jerusalem after a recent update to the iPhone operating system.
Riley signed her post with “a Jewish woman concerned about the global rise in anti-Semitism.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
