Wikipedia founder admits 'Gaza genocide' article failed to meet organization’s neutrality standards

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on Sunday admitted that the online encyclopedia’s “Gaza Genocide” entry is an example of an article that "failed to meet the neutrality standards of Wikipedia" and urgently needed to be revised and updated. 

“This article fails to meet our high standards and needs immediate attention,” Wales assessed.

“The neutrality of this article is disputed, and there are very good reasons for that – it inappropriately, and contrary to our policy and traditions, takes sides in an ongoing controversy when it ought to accurately and fairly summarize all relevant views,” Wales said. “That’s true no matter what."

“As many of you will know, I have been leading an NPOV (neutral point of view) working group and studying the issue of neutrality in Wikipedia across many articles and topic areas, including ‘Zionism,’” he explained.

“While this article is a particularly egregious example, there is much more work to do,” Wales admitted. 

“I assume good faith of everyone who has worked on this ‘Gaza genocide’ article. At present, the lead and the overall presentation state – in Wikipedia’s voice – that Israel is committing genocide, although that claim is highly contested,” he argued.

The controversial Wikipedia entry begins with the factually inaccurate claim that “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.” 

While not clearly rejecting the claim that Israel is committing “genocide,” Wales suggested that the entry should be changed to the more neutral statement “multiple governments, NGOs, and legal bodies have described or rejected the characterization of Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.”

The Jewish state has strongly rejected the accusation of “genocide” in Gaza and stressed that it has invested considerable resources and time in minimizing civilian casualties in the coastal enclave. Leading Western powers like the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom have also rejected the charge of “genocide” in Gaza.

"On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists brutally attacked, tortured, killed and kidnapped innocent people in Israel,” a German government official stated in early 2024. 

“Hamas's goal is to wipe out Israel. Since then, Israel has been defending itself against the inhumane attack by Hamas,” the German official stressed. 

Furthermore, the controversial Wikipedia entry failed to mention that the terrorist organization Hamas has systematically used Gazan civilians as human shields, which is a war crime under international law. 

Wales who is not personally involved in the writing and editing process, urged Wikipedia editors to implement “concrete improvements immediately.” He also called for integrating “significant, high-quality sources from all sides.” 

Wikipedia has reportedly restricted who can edit the “Gaza genocide” entry. Aaron Bandler, a journalist working for the Jewish News Syndicate who has covered Wikipedia’s anti-Israel bias, warned that the “Gaza genocide article” was one of the site’s most viewed entries since its publication in July 2024. 

In March, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish-American watchdog that monitors and combats antisemitism, accused 30 Wikipedia editors of organizing anti-Israel and anti-Jewish biased content on the popular site. 

“Most readers assume Wikipedia is a reliable online encyclopedia, but in reality, it has become a biased platform manipulated by agenda-driven editors on many topics,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt warned. 

“Recent Wikipedia efforts toward neutrality are nothing but a Band-Aid on a problem that’s getting worse, with persistent antisemitic and anti-Israel bias still far too present,” he assessed.