Wikipedia Article on Gaza Genocide Locked by Jimmy Wales Over Alleged Bias

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales made the extraordinary move Sunday to lock down the online encyclopedia’s English-language entry on the genocide in Gaza. Nobody can edit the text of the article, as disputes about its neutrality are resolved. And Wales seems to think that the deeply-sourced article—which contains hyperlinks to more information—isn’t neutral enough on the topic, calling it “particularly egregious.â€

“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. I believe that’s especially important on highly difficult or contentious topics,†Wales wrote in his announcement from the “Talk†page for the article “Gaza genocide.â€

Wales went on to write that he was asked in a “high profile media interview†about the Gaze genocide article and stated that it had failed to meet Wikipedia standards and “needs immediate attention.†Wales didn’t explain which interview he had been doing where the topic came up, but he’s currently on a media tour for his new book The Seven Rules of Trust: A Blueprint for Building Things That Last.

Wales wrote that he’s going to be leading a NPOV working group, which stands for “neutral point of view,†on Wikipedia for a number of topics, including Zionism.

“While this article is a particularly egregious example, there is much more work to do. It should go without saying that I am writing this in my personal capacity, and I am not speaking on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation or anyone else!†Wales wrote.

He went on to say that while he assumed every volunteer editor who worked on the article about the genocide in Gaza was working in good faith, the idea that Israel is committing genocide is “highly contested.â€

“A neutral approach would begin with a formulation such as: ‘Multiple governments, NGOs, and legal bodies have described or rejected the characterization of Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide,’†Wales wrote as an example.

The opening paragraph of the English-language Wikipedia entry currently reads:

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. The genocidal acts include mass killings, starvation, infliction of serious bodily and mental harm, and preventing births. Other acts include blockading, destroying civilian infrastructure, destroying healthcare facilities, killing healthcare workers and aid-seekers, causing mass forced displacement, committing sexual violence, and destroying educational, religious, and cultural sites.^[9] The genocide has been recognised by a United Nations special committee^[10] and commission of inquiry,^[11] the International Association of Genocide Scholars,^[12][13] multiple human rights groups,^[c] numerous genocide studies and international law scholars,^[19][20] and other experts.

As the Wikipedia entry notes, experts on genocide recognize what’s happening in Gaza as a genocide. But the people who don’t believe it’s a genocide fall into more or less two camps: 1) Those who think Israel’s actions since the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023 are just like any other war where casualties are high (about 11% of Gaza’s population has been killed or injured, according to NPR) and 2) those who think that Israel is committing war crimes, but that those war crimes don’t qualify as genocide.

In the latter camp, you have people like former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who served in that position from 2006 to 2009. Olmert has pointed to things like Israel’s months-long total blockade of aid getting into Gaza as evidence of war crimes, but stopped short of calling it a genocide.

In the former camp, you have people like Benjamin Netanyahu, who denies an intentional effort to starve Palestinians in Gaza, among countless other crimes. Netanyahu and his allies regularly call Israel’s military the most moral army in the world.

The situation in Gaza has improved since a ceasefire agreement was reached on Oct. 10, but people in the territory are still struggling immensely, according to the latest status report from the United Nations. More food and emergency personnel have been allowed into Gaza over the past three weeks, but shelter needs are still “largely unmet,†according to the UN, with much of the area turned to rubble and severely damaged buildings at risk of collapse.

Wales has been taking heat for his decision to lock the page on the Gaza genocide, but he’s also getting attention from other corners of the world. Elon Musk has been picking a fight with Wales and Wikipedia, which the Tesla CEO calls “Wokeipedia.†Musk recently launched a competitor called Grokipedia that just plagiarizes the scientific articles from Wikipedia and skews all of the information on other articles to favor Musk’s right-wing worldview.

Wales was asked about allegations that Wikipedia is biased in an interview with Yahoo Finance on Monday and Wales said that he wants the platform to be unbiased.

“So our fundamental core rule above all others is neutral point of view is non-negotiable. Now that, just saying it doesn’t make it true obviously, but it is something that the community is very committed to,†said Wales.

Wales also addressed the allegations from Musk specifically.

“We haven’t been taken over by left-wing activists at all, but if he’s signalling to kind and thoughtful conservatives that Wikipedia is not going to be welcoming to them, that doesn’t help us,†said Wales. “If he’s signaling to crazy left-wing woke activists that Wikipedia is their new home, then we have to deal with them, and those people do exist and so forth.â€

“What we really want is for people of goodwill of all kinds who can understand how we have an open system that’s built on trust and living up to other people’s trust in you as you’re working Wikipedia,†said Wales.