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European rabbis call on world regulator of emojis to add images showing Judaism

“There are emojis of women in the hijab and Arab clerics, and the Jews have been forgotten,” noted the Conference of European Rabbis.

iOS Emoji Keyboard. Photo by Josh Valcarcel of WIRED via Flickr.
iOS Emoji Keyboard. Photo by Josh Valcarcel of WIRED via Flickr.

The Conference of European Rabbis has called on the nonprofit global body that regulates emojis, Unicode Consortium, “to create a new emoji [to] symbolize the Jewish religion and its symbols.”

“There are emojis of women in the hijab and Arab clerics, and the Jews have been forgotten,” said chief of staff Gadi Gronich of the Conference of European Rabbis in a statement.

“If it is legitimate to present a family consisting of two men or two women, and to present the traditional attire of the Islamic religion, we believe that there is room for presenting the Jewish symbol as well,” stated the letter, which comes as there has been increasing anti-Semitism in Europe over the past several years.

Germany’s anti-Semitism czar cautioned Jews on Saturday against wearing a kipah in public due to the rise in anti-Semitic incidents.

Emojis are small digital images used to express emotions, ideas and other messages.

Jewish-related emojis currently available are a synagogue, the Star of David and the Israeli flag.

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