Controversy Arises Over Israel’s Fatal Attack on Nuseirat in Wikipedia War

A fierce “edit war” has erupted on Wikipedia over a page dedicated to a deadly Israeli raid in the Nuseirat refugee camp near Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on June 8. The attack, which aimed to free four Israeli captives taken by Hamas from a music festival, resulted in nearly 300 deaths and over 700 injuries. The page created to detail the incident has been subject to intense editing disputes, leading Wikipedia to restrict access to the page.

The Wikipedia page was created by an editor using the pseudonym “Galamore”, who detailed the Nuseirat raid and rescue operation. The page saw 627 edits by 103 users within a week, prompting administrators to lock it and allow only a select few editors to make changes. An editor becomes an “extended confirmed user” after 30 days and 500 edits. “Galamore” has made over 1,000 edits on various Wikipedia articles, mostly focusing on Israeli personalities.

An ‘edit war’ occurs when editors repeatedly alter each other’s contributions to a page, causing a cycle of reversions. This can include intentionally disruptive or malicious editing, such as biased or offensive content. Wikipedia’s neutrality policy requires articles to be written from a neutral perspective without editorial bias. The platform employs monitoring tools to detect edit wars and can place pages in “protection mode” to restrict editing access until disputes are resolved.

The row over the Nuseirat Wikipedia article unfolded with key changes made within the first 50 hours after its launch. The article was renamed multiple times, and the casualty count was a point of contention among editors. Users with different viewpoints, including those with Palestinian and Israeli affiliations, clashed over how the incident should be portrayed. The article’s title “rescue operation” instead of “massacre” incited anger among users who felt it downplayed the severity of the event.

Wikipedia froze the Nuseirat page due to the escalating edit wars and controversial nature of the content. While most pages are open for editing by registered users, certain articles are protected to prevent disruptive edits. Pages can be fully locked, allowing only extended confirmed users and administrators to access them. Similar edit wars have occurred on pages related to controversial political figures and current events, highlighting the challenges of maintaining neutrality and accuracy on the platform.

Wikipedia has faced edit wars on various topics, including pages related to high-profile politicians and controversial events. Protection measures are implemented to prevent disruptive editing and maintain the platform’s credibility and accuracy. The Nuseirat page dispute underscores the challenges of documenting contentious events and the importance of upholding Wikipedia’s standards of neutrality and accuracy.