This saddens me and I don’t understand why it is allowed to continue. And I’m not just talking about Apple Maps.
aduffy
This reminds me a bit of the Gulf of America fiasco from last year where if you changed your location to outside the US it would go back to showing Gulf of Mexico. I'm not sure why they would do this for US users unless the US government requested it.
antihero
What purpose would this serve in any way? Could it be that their data source is tied to satellite data that is now being blacked out?
jjtheblunt
Apple maps used (last i knew) Scala to import externally sourced map datasets continuously, and those may have lost towns and villages in Lebanon.
creddit
Currently 50 points and is just a link to Apple Maps with an unverified claim. EDIT: I'm at -2 for stating a fact.
neya
They did the same thing when there was a war between India and China a while ago. As brutal as it sounds, time and again Apple always loves to be on the side of whichever market is bigger. It's really that simple (business wise). Morally? Perhaps not.
contingencies
Apple: 1984 as a service. "We know walled gardens." Quick: someone do the graphic, you can sell merch. Mail a freebie and a purchase link to every makerspace on the planet. Some interesting background to current hostilities: "The UN Security Council has voted to wind up the near 50 year UNIFIL [peace keeping] mission after lobbying from Israel pushed the United States to veto its renewal. The mission will end in 2027." https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/08/un...
foxfired
You can look up Maroun Al-Ras [0] and it's map coordinate [1]. If you search for the name, you find a garden of the same name, but not the village. The instagram reel that was posted earlier had more context [2]. From wikipedia: > In October 2024, IDF forces operated in the village as part of its invasion of southern Lebanon. The Israeli flag was raised, after the victory. Which Apple might use as a justification. There is a Israeli flag, so it must belong to them. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroun_al-Ras [1]: https://maps.apple.com/frame?center=33.107500%2C35.444722&sp... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47742363
proshno
Well…what to expect from these tech companies who are openly and shamelessly complicit of genoc/de and the worst crimes in humanity? Just read it: “Apple buys Israeli ‘pre-speech’ tech firm implicated in Gaza genocide” https://thegrayzone.com/2026/02/15/apple-buys-israeli-pre-sp... And, of course, this post is flagged…because who know who run Y Combinator!
munib_ca
Why is this flagged?
wilg
The whole thread here seems to be full of people who know why Apple would have done this for some kind of bad reason, but nobody saying what that bad reason is. Anybody want to say it? I don't actually know other than something about Israel?
crazygringo
Multiple commenters here are asking if the towns and villages were ever included in Apple maps in the first place, and some people are saying we should obviously assume they were. However, a quick search reveals at least a few people claiming that Apple Maps has always been empty for Lebanon outside of major cities (and at least one commenter says they are Lebanese): https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1sjmrol/comment/oft1... https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1sjoxqo/... https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1sjo66s/apple_maps... https://www.reddit.com/r/lebanon/comments/1sjou17/apple_maps... I don't know how trustworthy these comments are, but I don't see anyone contradicting them. So it's definitely not clear this has anything to do with the current war.
ViktorRay
Worth mentioning that the person that posted this is antisemitic. https://xcancel.com/EthanLevins2/status/2043386231900262610#... In one of the replies, he says "all you people care about is money". This is a well known racist anti semitic trope. He even uses the phrase "you people." Shameful.
mclightning
Another reason to buy a Chinese android phone.
karim79
Netanyahu is running out of steam. There's only so much a guy who went to furniture sales school can pull off, at least that's my hope. I think he'll have to face justice in a few months but will it be enough? I doubt it. Edit: typo
Drblessing
Zionist Occupied App
karim79
I think the bigger story here is that Israel are removing (in physical terms) towns and villages from Lebanon. Maps is one thing but ethnic cleansing is another.
karim79
Netanyahu threw a temper tantrum on Wednesday (8th of April) and who suffered? Lebanese civilians that's who. The man (if you can call him that) is running on fumes at the moment. In the near future he'll wish he never left his original profession as a furniture salesman.
Related Discussions
Found 5 related stories in 58.8ms across 4,351 title embeddings via pgvector HNSW
Discussion Highlights (19 comments)
oa335
Any justification given by Apple?
Chance-Device
This saddens me and I don’t understand why it is allowed to continue. And I’m not just talking about Apple Maps.
aduffy
This reminds me a bit of the Gulf of America fiasco from last year where if you changed your location to outside the US it would go back to showing Gulf of Mexico. I'm not sure why they would do this for US users unless the US government requested it.
antihero
What purpose would this serve in any way? Could it be that their data source is tied to satellite data that is now being blacked out?
jjtheblunt
Apple maps used (last i knew) Scala to import externally sourced map datasets continuously, and those may have lost towns and villages in Lebanon.
creddit
Currently 50 points and is just a link to Apple Maps with an unverified claim. EDIT: I'm at -2 for stating a fact.
neya
They did the same thing when there was a war between India and China a while ago. As brutal as it sounds, time and again Apple always loves to be on the side of whichever market is bigger. It's really that simple (business wise). Morally? Perhaps not.
contingencies
Apple: 1984 as a service. "We know walled gardens." Quick: someone do the graphic, you can sell merch. Mail a freebie and a purchase link to every makerspace on the planet. Some interesting background to current hostilities: "The UN Security Council has voted to wind up the near 50 year UNIFIL [peace keeping] mission after lobbying from Israel pushed the United States to veto its renewal. The mission will end in 2027." https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/08/un...
foxfired
You can look up Maroun Al-Ras [0] and it's map coordinate [1]. If you search for the name, you find a garden of the same name, but not the village. The instagram reel that was posted earlier had more context [2]. From wikipedia: > In October 2024, IDF forces operated in the village as part of its invasion of southern Lebanon. The Israeli flag was raised, after the victory. Which Apple might use as a justification. There is a Israeli flag, so it must belong to them. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroun_al-Ras [1]: https://maps.apple.com/frame?center=33.107500%2C35.444722&sp... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47742363
proshno
Well…what to expect from these tech companies who are openly and shamelessly complicit of genoc/de and the worst crimes in humanity? Just read it: “Apple buys Israeli ‘pre-speech’ tech firm implicated in Gaza genocide” https://thegrayzone.com/2026/02/15/apple-buys-israeli-pre-sp... And, of course, this post is flagged…because who know who run Y Combinator!
munib_ca
Why is this flagged?
wilg
The whole thread here seems to be full of people who know why Apple would have done this for some kind of bad reason, but nobody saying what that bad reason is. Anybody want to say it? I don't actually know other than something about Israel?
crazygringo
Multiple commenters here are asking if the towns and villages were ever included in Apple maps in the first place, and some people are saying we should obviously assume they were. However, a quick search reveals at least a few people claiming that Apple Maps has always been empty for Lebanon outside of major cities (and at least one commenter says they are Lebanese): https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/1sjmrol/comment/oft1... https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1sjoxqo/... https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1sjo66s/apple_maps... https://www.reddit.com/r/lebanon/comments/1sjou17/apple_maps... I don't know how trustworthy these comments are, but I don't see anyone contradicting them. So it's definitely not clear this has anything to do with the current war.
ViktorRay
Worth mentioning that the person that posted this is antisemitic. https://xcancel.com/EthanLevins2/status/2043386231900262610#... In one of the replies, he says "all you people care about is money". This is a well known racist anti semitic trope. He even uses the phrase "you people." Shameful.
mclightning
Another reason to buy a Chinese android phone.
karim79
Netanyahu is running out of steam. There's only so much a guy who went to furniture sales school can pull off, at least that's my hope. I think he'll have to face justice in a few months but will it be enough? I doubt it. Edit: typo
Drblessing
Zionist Occupied App
karim79
I think the bigger story here is that Israel are removing (in physical terms) towns and villages from Lebanon. Maps is one thing but ethnic cleansing is another.
karim79
Netanyahu threw a temper tantrum on Wednesday (8th of April) and who suffered? Lebanese civilians that's who. The man (if you can call him that) is running on fumes at the moment. In the near future he'll wish he never left his original profession as a furniture salesman.