Tech giant Apple vowed Thursday to stop the Palestinian flag emoji from being suggested to some iPhone users when they type the word "Jerusalem" in their messages.
The Silicon Valley-based group attributed the message to a software bug, prompting accusations of antisemitism against the company for showing an anti-Israel bias amid the war in Gaza in the wake of Hamas' terrorist massacre in Israel.
Apple told AFP that the suggestion of that predictive emoji on the iPhone keyboard was not intentional and will be fixed in the next update of its mobile operating system.
The controversy spread on social media after British television star Rachel Riley pointed out the alleged bug; "When I type the capital of Israel, Jerusalem, I'm offered the Palestinian flag emoji," wrote Riley in a post on X, asking Apple to explain the reason for that suggestion.
Dear @Apple @AppleSupport @tim_cook
I’ve just upgraded my software to version iOS 17.4.1, and now, when I type the capital of Israel 🇮🇱, Jerusalem, I’m offered the Palestinian flag emoji. 🇵🇸 This didn’t occur on my phone immediately before this update.
Below is a… pic.twitter.com/Cw9TDmE6VD
— Rachel Riley MBE 💙 (@RachelRileyRR) April 9, 2024
She remarked that she was not presented with suggestions of other flag emojis when she wrote the names of other capital cities on her iPhone.
The controversy crossed borders and Eylon Levy, until recently spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lashed out against the technology giant and demanded an urgent investigation: "A glitch like this on Apple that erases the capital city of Israel and wants to hand that over to the Palestinians is unfortunately part of this global wave of hostility that we are seeing towards Israel," he said in statements to The Sun.
