Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki alleged in a July 18 interview with Palestine TV that “Israeli-Jewish influence” prompted Apple and Google remove the name “Palestine” from their respective maps.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Al-Maliki called for a petition to bring the “Palestine” name back to Apple and Google Maps, but said that a petition itself would not be enough.
“It is clear that these two companies have obvious orientations,” Al-Maliki said. “It is obvious who owns them, and the Israeli-Jewish influence on them is also obvious. All this makes them biased towards Israel.”
He added that the PA is looking to file international lawsuits against Apple and Google “for treating Palestine this way. We hope that we can begin taking such measures in the next few days.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are neither Jewish nor Israeli.
Honest Reporting Canada, a watchdog on anti-Israel bias in Canadian media, tweeted: “#Apple, #Google, the #banks, the #weather etc. The #Jews apparently control it all, but we still can’t stop the vicious spread of #antisemitism we are seeing across the world.”
#Apple, #Google, the #banks, the #weather etc. The #Jews apparently control it all, but we still can’t stop the vicious spread of #antisemitism we are seeing across the world. https://t.co/COKigSUAmA
— HonestReporting Canada (@HonestRepCanada) July 22, 2020
The claim about Apple and Google removing the name “Palestine” from their maps stemmed from a series of social media posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. However, a Google spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that their maps have never labeled the Palestinian territories as “Palestine.”
At least one of the viral Instagram posts spreading the claim on July 15 was later updated to acknowledge Apple and Google Maps have never used the word “Palestine” on their maps. The post called for Apple and Google “to bring Palestine on the maps.”
