Apple said Wednesday that an iPhone application called "Jew or Not Jew" which drew criticism from Jewish anti-racism
Jewish groups has been removed from the Apple Store in France.
"This app violates local law and is no longer available on the App Store in France," Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AFP.
The application, which went on sale on August 9 and cost 0.79 euros, was denounced in France by SOS Racisme, Jewish groups and other organizations.
The app provided information about whether some 3,500 people from various walks of life in 50 countries were Jewish or not.
The creator of the application, Johann Levy, a 35-year-old Franco-British engineer in Paris, said that he is Jewish and the app was not intended to be offensive. He said he developed the app to be "recreational."
"I'm not a spokesman for all Jews, but as a Jew myself I know that in our community we often ask whether a such-and-such celebrity is Jewish or not," he is quoted as saying.
"For me, there's nothing pejorative about saying that someone is Jewish or not," he said. “On the contrary, he said, it was designed to "make Jews proud" when they find out that a "particular celebrity is also Jewish."
But Richard Prasquier, head of the umbrella group of French Jewish organizations, CRIF, denounced the application and called for its immediate removal.
"It's not only shocking but also illegal," Prasquier said. "In France, we make a very important distinction that doesn't exist in the same way in the United States between the public and private spheres. If someone wants something as personal as his religion to remain private, it must remain that way."
French anti-racism group SOS Racism had threatened to sue Apple. It said the app violates France's strict laws banning the compiling of people's personal details without their consent.
Violators could face five years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros.
The laws were enacted in the decades following the Holocaust, which saw some 76,000 Jews deported from Nazi-occupied France to concentration camps. Fewer than 3,000 returned alive.