14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has proceeded to pull a ‘Third Palestinian Intifada’ application after being urged by Yuli Edelstein, Minister of Public Affairs and the Diaspora, to consider the consequences of leaving such content run free on the App Store.
Soon after its approval in the App Store, ThirdIntifada drew complaints from the Israeli government who urged Apple to take steps immediately.
An Arabic term describing an act of rebellion, “Intifada” is something that Palestinians have carried out not once, but twice (in 1987 and 2000), the latter ending with thousands of deaths, according to CNN.
Reports say that Yuli Edelstein, Minister of Public Affairs and the Diaspora, contacted Steve Jobs himself to lobby to remove the application from the App Store.
"Upon review of the stories, articles, and photos published by means of the application, one can easily see that this is in fact anti-Israel and anti-Zionist," he wrote. "Furthermore, as is implied by its name, the application calls for an uprising against the State of Israel."
"I am convinced that you are aware of this type of application's ability to unite many toward an objective that could be disastrous," Edelstein reportedly told Apple’s CEO.
"From browsing through the articles, stories and photographs that appear in the app, it is clear that this is an anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist application that in fact, as its name suggests, calls for an uprising against Israel," Edelstein added.
The app specifically gave information about protests and links to nationalistic Palestinian songs and media, as well an array of news stories written in Arabic.
It also featured means to upload photos and stories about protests against the state of Israel.
Cupertino, California-based Apple has since removed the application, as confirmed in a CNN report quoting an Apple spokesman.
"We removed this app from the App Store because it violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people," this spokesman reportedly said.