Apple removes pro-Palestinian app. from iTunes

At Israel's request, Apple has removed an iTunes application calling for a third Palestinian uprising, or infitadah, reports CBS Radio News correspondent Robert Berger.

Israel praised Apple's decision as "another important step in preventing violent incitement in the new media."

Apple said the app was removed because it was deemed offensive to large groups of people.

"Intifadah" is the Arabic term for two violent uprisings against Israel over the past two decades. The free application encouraged followers to share opinions and organize protests against Israel.

It was linked to a website that, among other things, helped organize violent clashes with Israeli troops recently along Israel's frontiers with Lebanon and Syria.

"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. Furthermore, as is implied by its name, the application calls for an uprising against the State of Israel," wrote Israel's information minister, Yuli Edelstein.

Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center had also urged Apple to remove the application. The center's associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, said in a release issued on Tuesday that "the leading new media and technology companies should not be facilitating entities with a track record of promoting incitement and violence."

Apple's guidelines for developers say that applications "containing references or commentary about a religious, cultural or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence will be rejected."

The guidelines also reject depictions of weapons that encourage "illegal or reckless" use.