Apple’s predictive text system has prompted claims of antisemitism against the tech giant, by serving the Palestinian flag after users type in Jerusalem, reports AppleInsider.
The article says that, for some users of iOS 17.4.1, typing in Jerusalem brings up the Palestinian flag as an optional emoji to add in iMessage. AppleInsider says it was able to confirm the flag appears, it also doesn’t appear for all users. For example, while it appears when using iOS under UK English dictionaries, it doesn’t appear when used under US English.
This isn’t the first issue regarding Apple and Palestine supporters. ON April 2 it was reported that nearly 300 current and former Apple employees have published an open letter alleging that several retail and corporate employees of the company have been disciplined or “wrongfully terminated” for expressing support for Palestinian people through pins, bracelets, or keffiyeh, according to Wired.
The group, which calls itself Apples4Ceasefire, alleges a Palestinian retail employee at Apple’s Lincoln Park, Chicago, was wrongly fired for wearing clothing and accessories showing support for Palestinian people.
The Apples4Ceasefire letter wants Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives to acknowledge the many deaths in Gaza from Israel’s assault on the territory in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7. Cook sent an email to Apple employees two days after Hamas attacked expressing sympathy for those who died or were bereaved, the letter says. It adds that “after over 150 days of violence against innocent Palestinian lives, there has yet to be a message sent expressing the same kind of concern for them.”
