Israel
Wikipedia labels rescue of hostages held by Hamas a ‘massacre’
Anti-Israel editors cited material from controversial sources out to reportedly outweigh more balanced voices
January 5, 2025 13:31
Anti-Israel editors cited material from controversial sources out to reportedly outweigh more balanced voices
January 5, 2025 13:31Free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has described the successful rescue of four Israeli hostages held by terrorist group Hamas in Gaza as a “massacre”.
The page on the site, which is created and edited by volunteers, lists the IDF’s mission to rescue Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov as “Nuseirat rescue and massacre”.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claimed that over 200 Palestinians were killed during the rescue operation. However, it does not distinguish between civilians and terrorists in its casualty figures.
According to an investigation by Jewish Journal, an overwhelming number of anti-Israel editors insisted that the term “massacre” was needed in the title, in order for the article to be considered neutral and gave more prominence to sources who described the operation as a massacre, such as controversial UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, over more mainstream sources that did describe Israel’s actions as such.
Middle East historian Asaf Romirowsky, who heads Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and the Association for the Study of the Middle East and North Africa, attacked the credibility of the United Nations
He told Jewish Journal: “This is the same organization who denies the fact UNRWA has been complicit with Hamas – and that they are Hamas … all these vehicles is where Hamas turns to when they are trying to put pressure on Israel and using the so-called international humanitarian aid network of organizations because they all buy into the Hamas propaganda, hook, line and sinker.”
He added: “the Palestinian cause within UN circles is religion, and it doesn’t matter if the source is coming from Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, they [are] seeing this binary perspective where Israel can do no right and the Palestinians can do no wrong.”
One Wikipedia editor who rejected the use of the word massacre said the organisation’s style guide should be changed and the word “massacre” ought to be “removed from general use in article titles when there is any ambiguity or intractable debate, or subject to far stricter criteria.”
This isn’t the first instance of Wikipedia, a tool relied on by millions of people for information on a daily basis, being used to elevate anti-Israel viewpoints.
In October last year, American news site Pirate Wires reported that a coordinated campaign of around 40 Wikipedia editors was working to delegitimise Israel, present extremist Islamist groups in a more positive light and position fringe views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as mainstream, something which has intensified since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Wikipedia has been contacted for comment.