A contentious problem in the most recent iOS upgrade has been noticed by some iPhone users.
It appears as the Palestinian flag when you type the word “Jerusalem” in a message.
The tech behemoth Apple announced that it is aware of the issue with the keyboard’s predictive text emoji and is working on a solution that will be included in the upcoming iOS release.
Presenter Rachel Riley of Countdown initially noticed the glitch when she gave her thoughts about X.
“Dear Apple, AppleSupport, and @tim_cook,” she wrote.
I recently updated to iOS 17.4.1, and now the Palestinian flag emoji appears when I type Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. This wasn’t happening on my phone right away prior to this upgrade.
Ms Riley then lists the countires where no flag appears when typing in the name.
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
‘Showing double standards with respect to Israel is a form of antisemitism, which is itself a form of racism against Jewish people,’ she adds.
‘Please explain whether this is an intentional act by your company, or whether you have no control over rogue programmers.’
According to Apple, the recent update included a modification that wasn’t intended, and the problem would be fixed in an upcoming update that hasn’t been revealed yet, the BBC was informed.
However, the bug only seems to appear on English setting keyboards for the UK, Singapore and South Africa.
In response, Ms Riley wrote on X: ‘In my opinion a multinational company like Apple would not want to admit publicly that this was an intentional act by an employee/employees hence the description “bug” but I hope at least internally those responsible will no longer be working for the company.’
The status of Jerusalem has been a long-running dispute in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Palestinians say that the eastern part of Jerusalem belongs to them as part of its capital, but Israel is claiming the whole city.
East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were captured by Israel from Jordan and Egypt in a war in 1967. Since then, it has been viewed internationally as occupied Palestinian territory.
Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world and is considered to be holy to all three Abrahamic religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity, and holds monuments of religious significance to all three religions.
