Home FrontPage Among the Jews themselves…a raging war over the Israeli narrative in Wikipedia | Policy

Among the Jews themselves…a raging war over the Israeli narrative in Wikipedia | Policy

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Occupied Jerusalem- The Wikipedia encyclopedia archives witness a raging war between the Israelis themselves over narratives, opinions, and internal positions related to the aggression against the Gaza Strip after the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle on October 7, 2023.

The war of narratives and narratives between Israelis that is taking place on Wikipedia reflects the extent of internal disputes and the depth of the rift in Israeli society, which has been entrenched due to political, social, sectarian, religious and ideological considerations, and aims to formulate a narrative that may largely determine the features of the novel on what was called the day after the war.

These considerations were evident among the Israeli political and religious camps, through the difference in views regarding the failure and failure to prevent the sudden attack of the Palestinian resistance factions, the course of the war, and its connection to the file of those detained by the resistance, and the performance of the political and military leaders, with attempts to shift responsibility for the failure to other trends and personalities.

Narrative war

An investigation by the Hebrew website “Shomrim” monitored the features of the war, which are summarized by the Israelis’ – for political and ideological considerations – changing and deleting the contents of the Wikipedia encyclopedia archive regarding everything related to their role in the fighting in the events of October 7, and responsibility for the failure and intelligence failure.

The features of the raging conflict were not limited to deleting and deleting content, but rather moved to the stage of misinformation and distortion of information, publishing false information about some leaders and personalities, and even deleting information that some believe insults Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It was noted that information was deleted about the role of former security leaders in confronting the sudden attack on the “Gaza Envelope” settlements, such as what was carried out by Yair Golan, the retired Major General in the Israeli Army, who served as Deputy Chief of Staff, and was one of the first to arrive in the Gaza Envelope area that day.

In a shift that reflects internal disputes among Israelis regarding the conscription law and the imposition of military service on religious Jews, the “Haredim,” the phrase “brothers in arms” was deleted and information related to civilian mobilization and volunteering to support reserve forces in the war was deleted, while attempts were repeated to defame former Chief of Staff Minister Benny Gantz, as well as senior officials. Current and former officials of the security establishment.

paraphrasing

Investigative journalist Milan Czerny says, “Many Wikipedia editors have noticed – in recent weeks – that an attempt has been made to delete and delete the actions taken by retired General Golan on the day of the attack, when he went to the area of ​​​​the concert (Nova) after receiving distress calls from the people for help in rescuing them from the area.” “.

But Wikipedia users “asked to delete this from the historical record,” Cherny adds, claiming that the actions of Golan – who was a member of the Knesset for the Meretz party – were not unusual, and that there was no value in publishing such details about a reserve officer who was supposed to do so. that.

Cherny explained that there were those who justified deleting what Golan did and editing information about his role in the rescue operations by saying that “his actions were used for political propaganda, and that mentioning them in the electronic encyclopedia was due to non-encyclopedic and non-value-based considerations.”

The website’s report showed that similar attempts were made to selectively rewrite and reformulate history in the Wikipedia entry on everything related to the war on Gaza, which the Israeli army called the “War of the Iron Swords.”

According to the site, users who deliberately entered and browsed the encyclopedia through fake accounts attempted to delete information that referred to the contribution of the “Brothers in Arms” movement to the war effort, including civilian mobilization and emergency operations rooms that the movement established when the fighting broke out, explaining that that its contribution and activity in helping… Settlers are negligible compared to other bodies.

As part of the conflict, Cherny says, “users accused the movement’s activists of threatening to refuse military service in the reserve forces,” as part of the protests that Israel witnessed against the amendments to the judiciary initiated by the Netanyahu government.

Negative information

Regarding the electronic content in the encyclopedia related to War Council Minister Benny Gantz and his military service when he was Chief of Staff in 2015, it was subjected to attempts to reformulate by users who wanted to include negative information in it.

The journalist says that this happens “specifically on days when the slogan (Together we will win) is promoted and it is emphasized that (We do not engage in politics during the war).”

According to the report, one of the users tried to add information and allegations that Gantz delayed an Israeli army infantry operation in the Gaza Strip in 2015, in order to prevent damage and harm to the lives of Palestinian civilians, even at the expense of risking Golani Division soldiers, as he claimed.

Not only that, but another user claimed that “during Operation Protective Edge (Operation Protective Edge, according to the Israeli name) in 2014, when Gantz was Chief of Staff, he presented a false assessment of the government at the time headed by Netanyahu, in an attempt to prevent the occupation of Gaza.” The user wrote that “ Gantz is responsible for the situation in Gaza that led to the events of October 7.”

The Israeli website indicates attempts by some to protect Netanyahu by changing Wikipedia information (French)

Netanyahu’s fortification

The report’s author notes that “it’s not often that changes are made to Wikipedia pages dealing with a historical event from three decades ago,” but after Netanyahu compared the number of Jewish deaths on October 7 to the “Oslo victims,” ​​users suddenly began incorporating the claim that “the Accords… Oslo is the reason for the failure and failure that caused the events of what they call “Black Saturday” on October 7.

The report monitored prominent activity by a person using the title “Jacob,” especially when it comes to placing blame and responsibility for the events of October 7 on figures in the security establishment, and not on Netanyahu, noting that “Jacob” was an active editor on the Hebrew Wikipedia for several years.

According to what the report documented, “Yaakov” recently edited and reformulated information and content that was described as “abusive and distorted” related to the head of the General Security Service, “Shin Bet,” Ronen Bar, the head of the Military Intelligence Division, “Aman,” Aharon Haliva, and former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, as well as Made changes with content related to officers who participated in the October 1973 War.

Cherny says, “It was important for Yaakov to note in the information about them that they supported former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip in 2005,” but at the same time he avoided directing any criticism of Netanyahu and his government, and even opposed the amendments that held them responsible for failing to prevent events. Al-Aqsa flood.

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