The decision follows an official request from the Israeli government
Apple (AAPL) on Wednesday removed a controversial application from the App Store after a Jewish human rights group and a top Israeli official complained that it contained anti-Semitic content and promoted violence against Israel.
The app, “The Third Intifada,” passed along anti-Israeli news and alerted users of upcoming protests against Israel.
“Intifada” — literally “shaking off” — is the Arabic term for two violent uprisings against Israel.
On Tuesday, Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s minister for diplomacy and diaspora affairs sent a letter to Steve Jobs asking Apple to pull the app.
“We removed this app from the App Store because it violates the developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people,” an Apple spokesman said Wednesday evening.
The developers of Third Intifada launched a similar Facebook page about three months ago, but the page was removed after the Israeli government expressed concern.
