Wikipedia Declares Israel Guilty of Committing Genocide Against Palestinians

A discussion regarding the Wikipedia article on allegations Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip was closed over the weekend in favor of stating the allegations as fact. The proposal received significant support from pro-Palestinian and socialist editors, but other editors noted a recent discussion had already ruled against claiming genocide as fact. The decision on Saturday by admin Christopher Beland came nearly two months after discussion started. 

His decision found that stating “the Gaza genocide is” in the intro, thus treating the allegations as true, had consensus support citing a roughly 2-to-1 vote in favor out of about 80 editors. On Wikipedia, consensus is supposed to be based off the strength of arguments over numerical support. Beland stated the introduction could still note criticism of genocide allegations, comparing this to how articles on the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide are handled. Beland argued Wikipedia’s policies on maintaining a neutral point of view did not require treating the genocide allegations against Israel as allegations noting editors claimed a scholarly consensus. Scholars claimed to be allied to Israel and news media were given less weight.

Following the decision, the opening line of the article was changed to claim the “Gaza genocide is the ongoing systematic destruction of the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel by means of blockade, invasion, and bombing of the strip with the manifest intent of senior Israeli leaders in the context of the war that is taking place there.” While acknowledging “this characterization” was controversial, the article claims “it is now supported by a wide academic consensus.” Editors were still discussing how to change the introduction to reflect the result with one editor adding various “genocidal acts” attributed to Israel. (Read More)