Shortly after Israel began its military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear program and its military, editors on Wikipedia proposed deleting the article “Destruction of Israel in Iranian policy” linked from the military operation page, as the Iranian policy is a key component of Israel’s justification of the operation. Discussion is bitterly divided between those advocating deletion of the page or merging it into other articles and those arguing for keeping the page.
Many advocating for deleting the page, including the editor who initially proposed deletion, have a history of anti-Israeli edits on Wikipedia.
An article about Israel’s ongoing military operation against Iran was created by editor Rafi Chazon shortly after the operation commenced and the editor subsequently added a link to the “Destruction of Israel in Iranian policy” article, which Chazon also created at the beginning of this month. Editor “Vice regent” later edited the article on the military operation to emphasize civilian deaths resulting from Israeli strikes. Vice regent has previously made similar edits emphasizing the claims of Israeli adversaries about civilian casualties in Israeli strikes in Yemen, Lebanon, and Gaza.
Eventually, Vice regent went to the “Destruction of Israeli in Iranian Policy” article and sought to blank the page, redirecting it to the “Legitimacy of the State of Israel” article. When this blanking was undone, Vice regent nominated the article for deletion. In opening the deletion discussion, Vice regent argued the article was similar to an article on “calls for the destruction” of Israel that had previously been merged to the legitimacy article. Vice regent stated the current page was a “POVFORK” of the legitimacy article, meaning an article created from another to represent a single viewpoint of the subject in violation of the site’s neutrality policy.
On X, the proposal to delete the article was prominently noted by the “WikiBias” account, which highlights Wikipedia content unfavorable to Israel stating it is “Unveiling the Blind Spots: Where Wikipedia’s ‘Neutral Point of View’ Policy Falls Short” in its profile description. The posts by WikiBias argued the deletion attempt was “highlighting a double standard, given the unchecked spread of biased anti-Israel articles.” As an example of one such article, the user cited the “Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany” page on Wikipedia.
Those opposing deletion of the article on Iranian policy supporting Israel’s destruction argued this policy had received significant coverage in sources considered reliable on Wikipedia. Chazon defended the article as being about “a sustained strategy, policy, or project, however one chooses to label it” that included “funding and training militant groups to encircle Israel, promoting suicide bombings, advancing a nuclear program aimed at threatening Israel, and broadcasting countdowns to Israel’s destruction” that were “not isolated statements” but “deliberate steps within a long-term vision.” Chazon added this “reflects the view of leading scholars.” Others voting to keep the page suggested addressing bias concerns without deleting the page with some suggesting the article be renamed.
Among those supporting deleting the article or merging it with other articles, including the article on Iran-Israel relations, there were many with a history of anti-Israeli bias. This included “Simonm223” who had previously nominated the “Calls for the destruction of Israel” article for deletion. On his profile page, Simonm223 had identified as a Marxian socialist and Palestinian supporter. Simonm223 also previously praised an Antifa terrorist attack on an ICE facility, while advocating downplaying the far-left group’s violence. He also was one of the editors who rejected concerns about bias from then-acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, whose inquiries to Wikipedia were partly about anti-Israeli editing.
Comments advocating the article’s deletion included an editor claiming it was “crafted” to “push a Zionist POV in the backdrop of Israel’s attack on Iran.” Editor “AssanEcho” argued the article was biased for “not mentioning any international or internal support” for Iranian policy. That user’s profile page identifies the editor as a Marxist who supports “one democratic state in historic Palestine, from the river to the sea.” The WikiBias X account’s posts were noted by editor “Smallangryplanet” when voting to merge the page, criticizing the post as “canvassing” under Wikipedia policy. The editor’s profile page also expressed support for the far-left and Palestinians, characterizing Israel as an “apartheid” state referring to the racist system adopted by South Africa under minority white rule.
Martin’s inquiries were not the only ones concerned with anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic bias on Wikipedia. After Martin’s inquiries to Wikipedia’s owners, a bipartisan group of Congressional Representatives submitted their own letter expressing “deep concern regarding antisemitism, anti-Israel bias, and the potential abuse of Wikipedia by coordinated actors.” The Wikimedia Foundation that owns the online encyclopedia established a “neutrality working group” headed by co-founder Jimmy Wales earlier this year in response to growing concerns about bias, including bias against Israel. However, the Foundation praised its contributors as having “a strong track record of successfully managing neutrality on contentious subjects” when announcing the working group.
Concerns about a left-wing bias have also plagued Wikipedia, and anti-Israeli editing often overlaps with advancing a left-wing bias on the site as occurred when editors downplayed controversies about then-Harvard President’s handling of antisemitism on campus and her alleged plagiarism. Prior criticism of the site’s left-wing bias has frequently come from the site’s other co-founder Larry Sanger. Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk has also criticized Wikipedia’s bias, including an instance where editors attempted to delete Wikipedia’s page on the “Twitter Files” showing internal communications on the social media site prior to Musk purchasing and rebranding the platform. That article was ultimately kept following Musk’s criticism.
T. D. Adler edited Wikipedia as The Devil’s Advocate. He was banned after privately reporting conflict of interest editing by one of the site’s administrators. Due to previous witch-hunts led by mainstream Wikipedians against their critics, Adler writes under an alias.
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