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):
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.
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.
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.
it is good that hacker news is the place where I saw the most people using their brains and noticing that there is no proof of removal in this claim as there is no before image showing they were there in the first place.
but it is concerning that there is still a lot of people who totally miss this obvious flaw in the claim.
it takes a couple minutes to test the claim and notice that the issue in affecting all Lebanon and not only the Southern region where israel is invading and leveling entire villages to the ground as they did in Gaza.
zooming in around the Lebanon border you notice instantly that a lot of information is missing as the background become white: https://i.imgur.com/L2p1j15.png
and following this clue, you soon notice that the same issue of missing labels is also happening in Syria: https://i.imgur.com/8p1ANAZ.png
there is no evidence supporting the claim and evidence actually tends to disprove it.
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.
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.
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?
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...
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.
187 comments
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.
https://x.com/hezbolsonaro/status/1310354231795171328
Still odd because OSM has all these towns and Apple appears to be using the OSM street network, but not showing the labels
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
I'm not sure why they would do this for US users unless the US government requested it.
but it is concerning that there is still a lot of people who totally miss this obvious flaw in the claim.
it takes a couple minutes to test the claim and notice that the issue in affecting all Lebanon and not only the Southern region where israel is invading and leveling entire villages to the ground as they did in Gaza.
zooming in around the Lebanon border you notice instantly that a lot of information is missing as the background become white: https://i.imgur.com/L2p1j15.png
and following this clue, you soon notice that the same issue of missing labels is also happening in Syria: https://i.imgur.com/8p1ANAZ.png
there is no evidence supporting the claim and evidence actually tends to disprove it.
And I’m not just talking about Apple Maps.
EDIT: I'm at -2 for stating a fact.
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...
Edit: typo
Could it be that their data source is tied to satellite data that is now being blacked out?
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!