diff --git a/notebook/static/notebook/less/highlight.less b/notebook/static/notebook/less/highlight.less
index 9050a3cfb..d0b2bf2ae 100644
--- a/notebook/static/notebook/less/highlight.less
+++ b/notebook/static/notebook/less/highlight.less
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@ Adapted from GitHub theme
 
 .highlight-string{
   color: #BA2121;
-  /* isolate strings unicode direction from surrounding text */
-  unicode-bidi: isolate;
-  unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;
 }
 
 .highlight-comment{