Wikipedia Edits Skewing Israel Narrative Persist Post-Ban, ADL Report Claims

A new report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) alleges that significant portions of biased edits concerning Israel remain on Wikipedia even after editors involved were banned. The study, released Thursday by the ADL's Center for Technology and Society (CTS), found that many changes made by blocked editors still appear in key articles on the online encyclopedia. The report builds on a March 2025 ADL study, "Editing for Hate," which identified a coordinated effort by approximately 30 editors to alter the presentation of Israel, Jewish history, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The latest research indicates that while coordinated activity has decreased by about 95% following scrutiny from various authorities and platforms, the biased editing has shifted to more subtle methods. These include reverting other users' edits, softening factual claims with caveats, and gradually altering articles to avoid drawing attention to individual changes. The ADL identified 19 additional active accounts they claim continue to influence articles related to Israelis and Palestinians, using less conspicuous editing techniques.

The report highlights specific examples, including the Wikipedia article on Hamas, where information about the group's antisemitism and use of human shields was moved to a separate article, "Criticism of Hamas," shortly after the October 7th attacks. The ADL claims that the main Hamas article now only mentions the organization's status as a terror group at the end of its introduction. Similarly, the article on the Gaza War reportedly had approximately 17,000 characters of text and sources removed in November 2023, including documentation of atrocities, with a further 7,400 characters removed days later. The ADL states that the current text on the matter attributes such actions to militants "according to reports."

Further examples include the "Zionism" article, where the ADL claims the introduction presents Zionism as a movement that achieved its goals "through colonization" and sought a state with "as few Palestinian Arabs as possible." The report also examines edits related to sexual violence during the October 7th attacks, noting that editors worked to maintain phrasing that described Israeli women and girls as victims of sexual violence "only according to reports." The ADL also points to the article on the Bibas family, where, after the return of their bodies in February 2025, an un-sanctioned editor made 64 edits that left the circumstances of their deaths open, despite Israeli forensic findings that they were murdered in captivity.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated, "Blocking individual editors was never enough. The pages read by millions and from which AI tools learn still contain traces of a systematic disinformation campaign, which Wikipedia itself has acknowledged but never corrected." He urged the Wikimedia Foundation to conduct a comprehensive review of edits and called on AI and search engine companies to avoid presenting disputed framing as agreed fact. Daniel Kli, a senior director at CTS, added that the problem persists because "even in cases where the Wikipedia community took certain steps against editors who violated its policy, the activity of those editors remained in place."