A computer application called “The 3rd Intifada” has been removed by the giant Apple computer firm from its App Store for iPads and iPhones. Israel's Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, Yuli Edelstein, had sent a letter to Apple, pointing out that the application called for an Arab uprising against the State of Israel and asking that it be removed. The previous two Arab “intifadas” in Israel have been extremely violent, each resulting in hundreds of deadly terrorist attacks against civilians that claimed the lives of innocent men, women and children. “We removed this app from the App Store because it violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people,” explained the company in a statement. The application allowed users to post stories and photos about protests against the Jewish State and its policies, as well as to post comments about those issues. “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,” noted Edelstein in his letter to Apple, Inc. “Furthermore, as is implied by its name, the application calls for an uprising against the State of Israel.” Earlier this year, Facebook was also persuaded to shut down a page with the same name after initially refusing to do so. The page, which promoted violence against Jews in Israel, was written nearly entirely in Arabic except for a large display ad in English that threatened a Muslim boycott of Facebook “For Ever!” (sic) if the page were to be blocked. Once the page was indeed blocked, other similar pages mushroomed on the popular social networking site, each urging members to post links that others could follow. The pages encouraged readers to join demonstrations against the Jewish State on “Nakba Day” – the day Arabs protest the re-establishment of the Jewish commonwealth in Israel. Subsequently all the publicity led to further incitement by Palestinian Authority leaders, who have since continued to try to use the threat of a third intifada to intimidate Israelis.
