Apple says ‘Jerusalem- Palestinian flag predictive emoji link caused by a ‘bug’

Software giant Apple is being accused of “double standards” following an upgrade which automatically brings up the Palestinian flag when searching for the word ‘Jerusalem’.

Users upgrading their software to version iOS 17.4.1 are presented with the Palestinian flag emoji when typing in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.

Insisting the issue is caused by a “bug”, Apple told Jewish News: “We are aware of a bug within predictive emoji in Keyboard. This is not intended behaviour and a fix will be available in the next iOS update”.

The remarkably specific bug does not effect any of the world’s other 194 countries and capital cities.

Taking to social media platform Twitter/X, broadcaster Rachel Riley called out Apple CEO Tim Cook, writing:  “This didn’t occur on my phone immediately before this update. Below is a (non-exhaustive) list of capital cities that do not offer their nation’s flags, let alone the wrong one.

“Showing double standards with respect to Israel is a form of antisemitism, which is itself a form of racism against Jewish people. Please explain whether this is an intentional act by your company, or whether you have no control over rogue programmers. Sincerely, a Jewish woman concerned about the global rise in antisemitism”.