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