Palestine TV earlier this week aired an interview with PA “foreign minister” Riyad Al-Maliki in which he was asked on the alleged removal of the "Palestine" label from Google Maps and Apple Maps, a false claim that appears to have stemmed from a viral Instagram post from July 15.

Al-Maliki answered that as many Palestinian Arabs as possible should sign the petition to put the label back on the maps. He also said that Google and Apple are obviously biased towards Israel, that it is obvious who "owns" these companies, and that the Israeli-Jewish influence on them is obvious.

He further said that international legal experts and bodies are being consulted regarding what legal action may be taken against Google and Apple. Al-Maliki added that he hopes these actions will be taken in the next few days.

The interview aired on July 18 and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

"The easiest thing to do is to sign a petition demanding to put the name ['Palestine'] back [on the maps]. The more Palestinians sign that petition, the more Apple and Google will backtrack on this issue,” said Al-Maliki.

"But this is not enough, as it is clear that these two companies have obvious orientations. It is obvious who owns them, and the Israeli-Jewish influence on them is also obvious. All this makes them biased towards Israel,” he added.

"This is not the first time that we witness Google's anti-Palestinian orientation under technical pretexts. We are exploring the legal aspect of this issue. We have asked the international legal experts who are working with us to give us the necessary guidance regarding the international legal bodies that we can turn to in order to file lawsuits against Google and Apple for treating Palestine this way. We hope that we can begin taking such measures in the next few days," claimed Al-Maliki.