Apple lists Jerusalem without country

Apple finally introduced its much-anticipated new operating system, iOS 7, last week after months of working out bugs. Is one omission deliberate or inadvertent?

According to The Blaze, a conservative news site founded by Glenn Beck, the world clock list shows Jerusalem without a country. All other cities in the world, with the exception of Taipei and Vatican City, are listed with their country.

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and Palestinians also claim East Jerusalem as their future capital.

The previous operating system also listed Jerusalem without a country. However, a Blaze reader pointed out that Apple maps shows Jerusalem in Israel.

The iOS 7 lists West Bank and Gaza cities within the Palestinian Territories.

This is not the first time Jerusalem was presented as being Israel-less.

Before the 2012 Olympic games, the London Olympics published country profiles showing Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, but listed no capital for Israel. The Olympic website subsequently underwent various shifts on the issue after a Times of Israel reporter called to ask for comment.

“It’s a shame a nonpolitical body makes the most absurd political statements,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at the time, referring to the site’s initial designation of Jerusalem as the capital of “Palestine” and of Israel as being without a capital. “Some people don’t recognize Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel, but to make a statement of recognizing a country that doesn’t exist? Absurd.”

In April last year, the Guardian newspaper in London prompted bitter criticism from the Foreign Ministry when it “corrected” a caption which had listed Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Tel Aviv is in fact the capital of Israel, the paper informed its readers.