The Israeli–Palestinian conflict has been covered extensively on Wikipedia, facing criticism from advocates on both sides for perceived bias. External groups have launched coordinated editing campaigns to influence the content of the platform. The volume of edits on topics related to the conflict has surged significantly since the October 7 attacks in 2023 and the ensuing Gaza war. Coverage of the conflict differs significantly among Wikipedia's language editions.
History
Journalist of Haaretz suggests that "two warring camps" of pro-Israel and pro-Palestine Wikipedia editors emerged after the Second Intifada ended. During the Second Intifada, an article on Israel's West Bank barrier was created; the article initially called it a "security fence" and supported Israel, but it was later updated that day to include the phrase "apartheid wall".
In September 2006, WikiProject Israel was established to improve coverage of Israel-related topics. WikiProject Palestine was created two months later. In 2008, the WikiProject Israel Palestine Collaboration was set up to reconcile editing efforts, with the project's page reading: "In a subject plagued by conflicting historical narratives, we are working to make Wikipedia the conflict's most balanced reference point. Help us build bridges and break down barriers in the world's most intractable conflict.",
In 2008, The Electronic Intifada, a pro-Palestinian organisation, published leaked emails from the pro-Israel watchdog Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) that purported to reveal an organised influence campaign on Wikipedia. The campaign suggested that pro-Israeli editors should pretend to be interested in other topics until elected as administrators. Once they became administrators, they were to use their powers to suppress pro-Palestinian editors and support pro-Israel editors. The emails resulted in at least five editors receiving lifetime bans on Wikipedia.
Also in 2008, after disputes reached a fever pitch over the Second Intifada and other articles about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee decided on a set of rules of conduct for editing articles related to the conflict. Editors are required to have made over 500 edits for at least 30 days to edit articles related to the conflict, can make only one revert per day across the entire field, and can be banned from editing related articles. The ruling was reaffirmed and expanded in 2009 and 2015. Since 2008, there have been four arbitration cases dealing with the conflict, usually in tandem with outbreaks of violence in the Middle East.
The Jerusalem Post reported in 2010 that "Israeli editors have sensed a growing presence of pro-Palestinian activists" on the English Wikipedia, and that there were calls for vigilance on Israel-related topics on the Hebrew Wikipedia. In August 2010, two Israeli right-wing groups, the Yesha Council and My Israel, ran a course on editing Wikipedia from a pro-Zionist point of view. Yesha Council director Naftali Bennett said, "We don't want to change Wikipedia or turn it into a propaganda arm. We just want to show the other side. People think that Israelis are mean, evil people who only want to hurt Arabs all day." In response, Abed A-Nassar, the chairman of the Association of Palestinian Journalists, called on Palestinian institutions to make Wikipedia articles more pro-Palestinian and counter what he called Israel's "public relations war".
In June 2013, Arnie Draiman, online communications editor for the pro-Israel group NGO Monitor, was indefinitely banned from editing Wikipedia articles about the Arab–Israeli conflict due to biased editing, concealing his place of work, and using a second account in a way Wikipedia policy forbids. Draiman was a major contributor to the articles on NGO Monitor and its founder Gerald Steinberg, and made hundreds of edits on articles about human rights organizations, including B'Tselem, the New Israel Fund, Human Rights Watch, and many others Steinberg opposes.
In 2014, Euronews reported that the Hebrew and Arabic articles on the 2014 Gaza war presented drastically different photographic narratives, with the English article having more balance.
In December 2017, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Wikipedia followed suit, sparking debate among editors. At that time, the English and Hebrew Wikipedia articles said that Jerusalem was Israel's capital, while the Arabic Wikipedia article said that Israel claimed it as its capital, but it was in occupied Palestine. The same month, an edit war broke out between "pro-Israel" and "pro-Palestine" editors over the inclusion of allegations that Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour had rejected sexual harassment accusations in her article; Benjakob commented, "Though it is common for political disputes to play out on Wikipedia – for example, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian editors fighting over contentious topics like Jerusalem's status – Sarsour's case highlights how the Israel-Palestine issue can sometimes trump other important ones."
In November 2020, Haaretz reported that the "West Bank bantustans" article comparing Israel's control of the West Bank to the Black-only enclaves in apartheid-era South Africa indicated a possible shift in Wikipedia's consensus on likening Israel to an apartheid regime. Editors said that the article's having survived a deletion proposal indicated that events such as the Trump peace plan and Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge to annex parts of the West Bank undermined Israel's talking point that it supported a two-state solution and strove to establish a Palestinian state.
Benjakob said in 2020:
In February 2021, the Hebrew Wikipedia renamed its version of the article on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, changing "occupation" to "rule". In July 2023, the Kohelet Policy Forum confirmed that one of its staff members had edited the Hebrew Wikipedia against their own and Wikipedia rules, using sock puppet accounts.
Gaza war (2023–present) The Gaza war has been extensively covered on Wikipedia and other related projects in various languages. This included articles about the 7 October attacks as well as the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and the invasion that followed. Articles related to the war have experienced edit warring due to the diversity of narratives from both sides of the conflict; for example, in the war's first week, a Hebrew Wikipedia editor added information to articles on former Israeli security officials, but not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, in ways that arguably pointed to these officials' responsibility for Israel's failure to prevent the 7 October attacks. Editors have debated topics such as whether Israel should be called an example of "settler colonialism" or an "apartheid regime" and whether its military operations in Gaza should be classified as a genocide.
The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) issued a statement titled "Wikimedia updates on the crisis in Gaza Strip and Israel" on 4 December 2023, and another statement the next day calling for "an end to measures preventing access to the internet in the Gaza Strip".
On 23 December 2023, the Arabic Wikipedia changed its logo to the colors of the Palestinian flag and suspended editing articles for the day to protest the Israeli military campaign in Gaza as well as the bias of Western governments, especially the U.S., towards Israel. The step was taken to express solidarity and rejection of misinformation, according to a banner published on the Arabic Wikipedia's main page. Many Arab users and supporters of the Palestinian cause welcomed this solidarity, while some Israeli users criticized it for breaking Wikipedia's rules on neutrality.
In early 2024, the English-language Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee banned three editors involved in a pro-Israel editing campaign. The Committee's investigation found that after the 7 October attacks, one banned editor had begun directing other editors to edit articles related to the conflict, including the use of human shields, the Beit Rima raid, and crimes against Israel. One of the editors also urged colleagues to vote for an article that called the Gaza war a genocide to be deleted or merged. Some editors who were accused of whitewashing articles reflecting badly on Iran were also accused of biased editing in articles related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, such as creating an article on the 2024 Houthi drone attack on Israel; the article said the attack was "hailed as a victory for the oppressed Palestinian people and their fighters". It was later updated to attribute the attack to Hezbollah.
In June 2024, an edit war involving the English Wikipedia articles for the 2024 Nuseirat rescue operation and the Nuseirat refugee camp massacre took place, which led to the restriction of editing access to those articles. The 2024 Nuseirat rescue operation article was based on the official Israeli narrative, while the Nuseirat refugee camp massacre article relied on figures provided by the Gaza Health Ministry. In January 2025, after further discussion, the two articles were merged into an article titled "Nuseirat rescue and massacre".
In July 2024, the English Wikipedia article on "Allegations of genocide in the 2023 Israeli attack on Gaza" was renamed "Gaza genocide" after two months of debate. The article was added to the "List of genocides" article that November, and a section on Palestine was added to the "Genocide of indigenous peoples" article in the same month.
In September 2024, Jewish Insider reported that a group of editors from the coalition "Tech for Palestine" had been using third-party tools, such as Discord, to coordinate efforts in what they called the "information battle for truth, peace and justice" on the "Wikipedia front". Their activities included compiling lists of pages they planned to edit, requesting specific changes, and sharing instructional "how-to" videos. One of their resources said: "Wikipedia is not just an online encyclopedia. It's a battleground for narratives." The investigation found that "The current conservative edit impact estimate for the group (based on available evidence) is 260 edits on 114 articles".p.3, Tech for Palestine, Discord, Wikipedia Collaboration Channel
According to Jewish Insider, the group was partially responsible for the decision to categorize the Anti-Defamation League as an unreliable source on topics related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles has suggested that despite the site's political neutrality, editors often attempt to inject their own bias when editing articles.
In December 2024, the Arbitration Committee banned two pro-Palestine editors indefinitely and restricted three others for "canvassing", or notifying fellow editors about a discussion pertaining to a specific edit "with the intention of influencing the outcome of a discussion a particular way". The committee accused the editors of "encouraging other users to game the extended confirmed restriction and engage in disruptive editing".
In January 2025, the Arbitration Committee topic-banned six "pro-Palestine" and two "pro-Israel" editors from editing articles related to the conflict. The bans were related to the editors' behavior and conduct, not their views. The Arbitration Committee also found that sock puppet accounts are "an ongoing issue... causing significant disruption". In addition to the bans, the Committee introduced the "balanced editing restriction", which requires sanctioned users to devote only a third of their edits to articles related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict even when no misconduct rules have been violated.