Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales stepped in personally to halt public edits to a controversial article titled “Gaza genocide,” blasting the page’s introduction for presenting a one-sided, anti-Israel narrative.
Wales said the entry violated the site’s neutrality standards because it presented the phrase “Gaza genocide” as fact rather than opinion. “This article fails to meet our high standards and needs immediate attention,” he wrote, noting that the description did not acknowledge the claim as an allegation and lacked attribution to reliable sources.
His message cited Wikipedia’s core policies on neutrality and verifiability. “I believe that Wikipedia is at its best when we can have reasonable discussion rooted in a commitment to write articles that reflect a neutral point of view,” he said. “I believe that’s especially important on highly difficult or contentious topics. While this article is a particularly egregious example, there is much more work to do.”
The decision to freeze the page’s edits on Sunday represented a rare intervention by Wales, whose platform dominates online information searches and appears in the majority of AI-generated summaries.
Wales directed volunteer editors to rebuild the entry from a neutral standpoint, suggesting that it begin with balanced wording such as: “Multiple government, NGOs, and legal bodies have described or rejected the characterization of Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.”
He reminded editors of Wikipedia’s unbending rules: “Remember: ‘This policy is non-negotiable, and the principles upon which it is based cannot be superseded by other policies or guidelines, nor by editor consensus.’”
The controversy comes as lawmakers and analysts accuse Wikipedia of becoming a tool for coordinated disinformation. In August, House Oversight Chair James Comer and Rep. Nancy Mace alleged that groups were violating the platform’s guidelines to push antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda. Their letter to Wikimedia CEO Maryana Iskander demanded records detailing how the foundation detects and punishes such manipulation, citing reports that taxpayer-funded academics and foreign agents were editing entries to promote anti-Western and pro-Kremlin talking points.
Tensions over Wikipedia’s credibility have also coincided with Elon Musk’s launch of Grokipedia, a self-described politically neutral, AI-driven alternative to Wikipedia. Musk said his platform was designed to eliminate what he sees as pervasive “lefty bias.”
Not all editors welcomed Wales’ involvement. “It feels very improper for the WMF to be intervening here due to political pressure, even if you are ostensibly acting as an individual,” one contributor complained on the page’s discussion board.
As of Monday morning, however, the lead paragraph of the “Gaza genocide” article still declared without sourcing: “The Gaza genocide is the ongoing, intentional, and systematic destruction of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip carried out by Israel during the Gaza war.”
It continued: “The genocidal acts include mass killings, starvation, infliction of serious bodily and mental harm, and preventing births,” listing additional claims such as “blockading, destroying civilian infrastructure, destroying health care facilities, killing health care workers and aid seekers, causing mass forced displacement, committing sexual violence, and destroying educational, religious, and cultural sites.”
While readers could still view the page, editing was locked. A notice featuring a padlock icon announced: “This article is currently protected from editing until November 4, 2025 at 21:47 UTC, or until editing disputes have been resolved.” It clarified that the restriction was “not an endorsement of the current version.”
Reactions among Wikipedia contributors were sharply divided. “Thank you for these important words. This is a first step toward correcting the bias and restoring neutrality to Wikipedia,” one editor wrote in support. Another added that Wales’ intervention was measured and sincere: “He has not ignored consensus nor tried to overturn it; he has come here to discuss it and try to reach a new consensus. And he is here as an editor — he made crystal clear that he is here in a personal capacity.”
Others were incensed. One editor fumed that his move was “disrespectful to all the experienced, good faith editors who put a lot of hard work into getting this article to the place it is,” while another accused him of bias because of his connections to Israel.
Wales, who has visited Israel numerous times, received the Dan David Prize from Tel Aviv University in 2015, an honor recognizing outstanding contributions to society and scholarship.
{Matzav.com}