Apple's Siri Gets Hacked; Calls Israel a "Zionist Occupation State"

Apple’s voice-controlled personal assistant Siri was briefly telling iPhone users on Saturday evening that Israel's Reuvin Rivlin "is the President of the Zionist occupation state."

Social media users quickly posted the unexpected response online, questioning whether Apple had been hacked. However, Israel's i24 News later reported that the glitch was due to someone changing Rivlin's Wikipedia page. As Siri's responses rely on publicly available information online, Wikipedia is often a primary source for the personal assistant's answers to users.

According to i24, the error was on Wikipedia's page for "several minutes" and the change had been made by a user going by "Arab Man." The online troll also changed Rivlin's Wikipedia article to describe him as "the main child of Israel."

Rivlin currently serves as the 10th president of Israel. He came to office in 2014, and previously served as the speaker of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.

Enemies of Israel, such as Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, often refer to the country as the "Zionist occupation state," using the term to undermine its legitimacy.

Media Outlet 'NowThis' Removes Holocaust Denial Clip After Social Media Outrage

Progressive news outlet NowThis announced in a tweet that it removed a video clip of a George Washington University student saying Anne Frank “didn’t die in a concentration camp” and claimed that the student “misspoke.”

The January 14th video in question featured three Jewish and Palestinian students criticizing President Donald Trump’s executive order addressing antisemitism on college campuses; the students argued that the executive order is attempting to curb pro-Palestinian voices on college campuses. 

One of the students, identified as Becca Lewis, said in the video, “What’s going to happen if there’s another Holocaust? Well, we’re seeing what’s happening. We’re seeing people die at the border for lack of medical care. That’s how Anne Frank died. She didn’t die in a concentration camp, she died from typhus.”

Lewis claims in the video she is Jewish; her remarks on Anne Frank sparked outrage on Social Media.

Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper stated that Anne Frank and her sister died of typhus “because the conditions in this concentration camp [Bergen-Belsen] were beyond description – the filth, the lack of sanitation, the lack of any food.”

He added that Lewis’ remarks are “an outrage.”

After the backlash, on Jan. 16, NowThis tweeted, “CORRECTION: We have removed a segment of this video in which the speaker misspoke regarding Anne Frank’s death.”

A Twitter account claiming to be Lewis tweeted, “The point I was making is that she died of typhus BECAUSE she was in a concentration camp. I meant to say she didnt [sic] die in a gas chamber — the way many people think was the only way jews [sic] were killed.” Lewis confirmed to the Journal that the account is hers.

The video was produced by Zahra Haider, a rabid supporter of the antisemitic BDS group. In 2014, Haider was photographed participating in a rally supporting convicted terrorist Rasmeah Odeh. Odeh was stripped of her U.S. Citizenship and kicked out of the country for lying about her terrorism charges/conviction on immigration papers.

Bagel Store Owner Discovers Antisemitic Sign Outside Business - "A Jew PARK"

Steven Ginsberg who has been an area business owner and resident for over 30 years said he’s never experienced what he found Wednesday morning at New York Bagel, one of his businesses. He called it an act of “antisemitic behavior.”

Ginsberg, who is Jewish, told The Standard-Times that around 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, he discovered a sign that said “A Jew PARK” outside of his Route 6 bagel shop. The sign appears to have originated as an A & A Jewelers parking sign, sliced in a way to read “A Jew PARK.”

A & A Jewelers is located diagonally across from New York Bagel, separated by the four lanes of Route 6 traffic.

“The sign was taped to a light post” nearby the drive-thru speaker, he explained.

Ginsberg posted a photograph of the sign on his personal Facebook page, which another person shared to a Dartmouth group, also on Facebook. That post has now garnered hundreds of comments and reactions.

NYPD Arrests Man for Multiple Antisemitic Incidents

A hateful career criminal hurled antisemitic comments at a Jewish couple in Times Square, then attacked and yelled racial slurs at a 16-year-old boy who intervened, police said Friday.

Suspect Vernon Stevens, 55, of Brooklyn first shouted, “F–king Jews!” at a couple in traditional Hasidic garb around 10:15 p.m. Thursday near West 45th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, cops said, citing the teen who witnessed the incident.

The teenager, who is from Brooklyn and who did not know the couple, then got involved and yelled back at Stevens as the man harassed the couple, cops said.

That’s when the suspect shoved his fingers in the teen’s face and called the boy, “F–king Jew!” according to cops.

The teen, who was with a 15-year-old pal from Queens, reported the incident to police, and Stevens was arrested about an hour later and a block away, at West 46th Street and Seventh Avenue, police said.

Stevens was charged with aggravated harassment in the second-degree, which includes harassment as a hate crime, and harassment in the first-degree, cops said.

Police sources said Stevens has an “extensive rap sheet” that includes more than 30 prior arrests for charges such as assault, criminal trespass, petite larceny, and harassment.

Stevens’ arrest history dates back to 2004, a source said, adding that his most recent arrests were for marijuana busts in 2014 and 2013.

The incident comes after a spate of more than two dozen anti-Semitic incidents plagued the city recently.