iPhone suggesting Palestine flag emoji when you type Jerusalem? Here's why

Apple has confirmed it plans to address the keyboard bug issue with a new software update to iPhones soon.

For decades, Israel and Palestine have been in a long conflict over the rightful claim over Jerusalem and surrounding areas. Now, amidst the ongoing geopolitical crisis at Gaza, a keyboard bug on the iPhone has caused heated debate on social media platforms.

In select regions, when an iPhone user types Jerusalem, the emoji predictor on Apple's native keyboard suggests the Palestine flag.

Popular British television anchor, Rachel Riley took to X (formerly Twitter) to report the issue to Apple and company CEO Tim Cook. Riley pointed the issue started when she updated to the latest iOS 17.4.1.

The controversy generated a lot of heated debate on social media platforms and many accused Apple of anti-semitism.

"Showing double standards concerning 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," said Rachel Riley.

Apple has responded to the media reports and said that a bug in the keyboard is causing the wrongful predictive emoji suggestion of the Palestine flag. It has promised to release a new update soon to fix the issue.

In a related development, Apple has sent out a warning to several iPhone users about the mercenary spyware attack threat in 92 countries, including India.

It has advised owners to upgrade their iPhones to the latest iOS versions-- iOS 17.4.1 (& iOS 16.7.7 for older devices).

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