Jerusalem (palestine)

• 17.04.2024 09:41 UTC+02:00
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About a week ago, Apple released a fun little update to iOS that automagically suggests the Palestinian flag emoji when iPhone users type Jerusalem. Apparently, not everyone was amused by this little performance enhancement. At least one trivial celebrity, Rachel Riley (who?), took to X to voice her opinion:

Showing double standards with respect to Israel is a form of antisemitism, which is itself a form of racism against Jewish people.

Rachel Riley MBE,* X

I guess it comes down to the nuance invoked by her use of the phrase a form of though, because in my view at least, there's a difference between the Jewish people as a race; Judaism as a religion; and Israel as a nation state. Antisemitism isn't itself a form of racism against Jewish people, it is racism against Jewish people. But opposition to Israel is not antisemitic when it's in response to the country's political and military actions on the world stage; to suggest otherwise is tantamount to saying Israel is above any reproach because Jews' fee-fees.**

Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu is a xenophobic and reactionary state, deserving of much that it gets. Israeli settlers have taken land from Palestinians in Gaza because Israel has an expansionist policy. A century ago, a similar policy of increasing living space by encroaching on other territories was known as Lebensraum, and we all know where that led, don't we? You'd think that a Jewish nation would be a little more sensitive to history, given the circumstances.

Anyhow, I've never used the emoji substitution, or felt the need to, but I like the fact that it's there. For now. Mirthless buggers at Apple have developed an update which addresses this little jape.

Oh dear. Another update to avoid, at least until I forget—highly likely—or until Apple introduces an overriding killer upgrade to iOS—just as highly unlikely. But I've turned off automatic updates as a precaution.