Wikipedia:
Israel Maintains Illegal Occupation, Brutal Apartheid

By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem
---- August 3 ..... Wikipedia, the so-called free encyclopedia
that anyone can edit, is again attacking Israel with libel and
slander equal only to racist comments made by Iran, Syria, Islamic
Jihad, al-Qaeda and Hamas.
Wikipedia,
which has been thrown out of almost every university and every
major news organization as a credible source, states that the
residents of city
of Tayibe (Taibeh or Tayiba) live under "illegal Israel
occupation and brutal apartheid control." What Wikipedia
does not state is that the residents of Tayibe frequent my home
town of Ra'anana, Israel every chance they get.
See
Editor's note below for update.
They
come to the Rananeem Shopping Mall and window shop, buy clothes,
eat fast food and their kids play with mine at the children's
air-conditioned indoor playground. There is no hostility, no
verbal or non-verbal expression of aggression. These are truly
peaceful people who accept, enjoy and respect Israel. They have
only compliments for Israel democracy, commerce for which they
live off and enjoy modern, Western style shopping in Ra'anana
and nearby Netanya, Israel.
The
only incitement from Taibeh that I have ever witnessed comes
only from Wikipedia!
At
the same time, Wikipedia is denying that "Jewish
Networking" does not exist. As a few, good hearted
Jews and loyal Zionists attempt to place Jewish geography into
Wikipedia they get knocked down by resident Wikipedia administrator
Capo Jew - user Jpgordon aka Josh Gordon. Anything which is
Jewish or of Israel is handled with contempt by Islamic terrorists
(Wikipedia refers to al-Qaeda as "militants"), anti-Semites
or extreme left wing Jews and Israelis at Wikipedia.
And
according to Wikipedia, Palestine is a state. Would someone
please be kind enough to show me Palestine currency and postage
stamps?
Anti-Semitism
starts at Wikipedia with a simple message from one Wikipedia
administrator (Slimvirgin aka Danny Wool) to another
administrator User:Jpgordon aka Josh Gordon, stating:
"Judaism
AfDs" (AfD means that a Wikipedia article is slated for
deletion. Notice how the word Judaism is used here. Wikipedia
management wants a Jewish administrator to discredit or destroy
another Jew. Much like how the Nazis used Capos - Jewish collaborators
who worked with the Gestapo.
In this manner they can't be blamed of anti-Semitism.)
:"Josh, your input here" (Slimvirgin points to the
Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents) would be appreciated.
SlimVirgin (talk) 16:24, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
It works
very much like a tag team Mafia. The Wikipedia administrators,
like blind sheep, are requested to delete Wikipedia content
that Wikipedia management does not care for.
But
this is no surprise to the Israel News Agency. Although
the INA has been accredited by the Israel Government Press Office
since 1995 and has been indexed by Google News since
2002 reaching over 60 million readers, both the publisher and
the INA articles have been removed by Wikipedia management after
Wikipedia's own community had a consensus to "keep"
the INA.
The
Israel News Agency has joined dozens of global newspapers
including the New York Times, The Village Voice, The
Boston Globe and the Guardian in criticizing Wikipedia
for its blatant censorship of articles and allowing hundreds
of cases of libel and slander to go unnoticed by many of its
administrators.
The
INA has been credited with many exclusives including Al-Qaeda
: The 39 Principles of Holy War, with news reports directly
from the scenes of the Passover Massacre in Netanya, Israel,
the Tel Aviv terror attack on the Dolphanarium, and the 9/11
terror attack in New York. The Israel News Agency recently
sponsored a global SEO contest to address the Holocaust cartoon
contest which was coordinated by the Iran government. The INA
has served as a news source to Google News since 2002.
The
Wikipedia attacks against the Israel News Agency began
shortly after the INA published Wikipedia:
A Nightmare Of Libel and Slander.
Censoring
is not something new at Wikipedia.
According
to Wikitruth,
Alan Dershowitz was censored by Wikipedia Jimbo Wales on December
8, 2005. "In true Wikipedia style, this article was reduced
down to a single sentence reading "Alan Morton Dershowitz
(born September 1, 1938) is the Felix Frankfurter Professor
of Law at Harvard Law School." on the early morning of
December 8, 2005. His rational for doing so was: "I have
received a very strong complaint about this article, and so
I have protected this very short version for tonight. Unlike
the normal case where protected articles should not be edited,
I want to try an experiment -- admins can edit this article.
We need to verify very carefully, with documentable sources,
every single fact in the article.--Jimbo Wales 00:09, 8 December
2005 (UTC)"
Wikitruth
continues: "The standout effect of the censorship of Dershowitz's
article is that as of March 22, 2006 it sources a dispute with
Noam Chomsky in its references that has been censored from the
article! The edit history prior to December 8, 2005 at 00:07
UTC has been manipulated or otherwise destroyed from the Alan
Dershowitz article by Jimbo and his underlings, very possibly
a GFDL violation. Dershowitz is a highly controversial lawyer,
famous for getting into scrapes with other high-profile types.
That's fairly common knowledge: few of us would not have seen
his face in the paper at one time or another." "But
Wikipedia thinks he's just another lawyer."
"
Dershowitz didn't like his Wikipedia article. If you don't like
what the wiki says about you, there are two roads to fixing
it. First you can try editing the article. You'll generally
be heavily abused by Wikithugs, who will chant weird invocations
like WP:AUTO at you and expect you to understand that that means
they believe they have a license to treat you like shit if you
have the temerity to work on your own biography. Then, if you
are a high-powered lawyer, or know one, you can try the second
route. Give Jimmy a call and use the magic words - the magic
words are "legal action". But take care. Don't mention
them on the wiki, or a Wikithug will banish you for "making
a legal threat". Make your legal threats to Jimbo directly."
The
Village Voice recently commented: "Not notable? Wikipedia
hosts approximately three jillion full-page articles about local
high schools, complete with alma mater lyrics, and it can't
make room for a critical look at its own practices? Perversely
enough, though, "notability" has indeed become a byword
for Wikipedia's freelance fact police, who delete at will whatever
they think might worsen the site's smoldering reputation as
a trivia dump."
One
should note that many of the editors at Wikipedia are professional,
dedicated, creative and highly talented, but they do not make
up a majority. They deserve credit for their many hours and
contributions, but can you imagine a car repair garage stating:
"the free garage where anyone can play with your cylinders?"
Are
Wikipedia's investors and venture capital sources such as Bessemer
Venture Partners, Dan Gillmor, The Omidyar Network, Pierre Omidyar,
Mark Andreessen, Reid Hoffman, Joichi Ito, and Mitch Kapor aware
of the rampant libel, slander and censorship taking place in
Wikipedia's so-called "citizens media?"
To
censor any free and democratic source of news is a violation
of our basic rights to free speech in a free society. As Wikipedia
is a leading source of information coming out of the US, censorship
of non-inciteful accredited news media is a direct breach of
public trust which only serves the egos and pride of Wikipedia
founder Jimbo Wales.
Censorship
at Wikipedia is a highly serious and dangerous action. Furthermore,
Wikipedia, which is now being blocked for use by a majority
of universities and colleges for its lack of accountability,
through its lack of accountable user and administrator posts
could actually be aiding terrorists to communicate with one
another on the Internet through their anonymous edits.
Are
we witnessing a new era of McCarthyism? Is it no mistake that
al-Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, Hizbullah and the PFLP
are referred to as "militant" groups rather than organizations
which plan and implement terrorism?
Perhaps
the worst case of Wikipedia libel, slander and censorship centered
around former USA TODAY editorial page editor John
Seigenthaler. Wikipedia for four months carried an article
falsely linking him to the assassinations of Robert Kennedy
and John F. Kennedy. But as angry as Seigenthaler was, and as
untrue as the article had been, it's unlikely that he has a
good court case against Wikipedia, according to legal experts
interviewed by CNET News.com.
Seigenthaler
himself acknowledged as much in a USA Today op-ed piece.
A case in which a man was falsely linked on Wikipedia to the
assassinations of Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy has led
some to question the online encyclopedia's libel liability.
Bottom
line: While Wikipedia is most likely safe from legal liability
for libel, the issues raised by the Seigenthaler case should
be carefully considered, some legal experts say. More stories
on Wikipedia thanks to section 230 of the Federal Communications
Decency Act (CDA), which became law in 1996, Wikipedia is most
likely safe from legal liability for libel, regardless of how
long an inaccurate article stays on the site. That's because
it is a service provider as opposed to a publisher such as Salon.com
or CNN.com.
In
his scathing, Nov. 29 opinion column in USA Today, the
78-year-old Seigenthaler wrote that in the original Wikipedia
article, "one sentence was true. I was Robert Kennedy's
administrative assistant." The article was written by an
anonymous Wikipedia user traceable only to a BellSouth Internet
account, but Seigenthaler added that the giant ISP wouldn't
reveal the author's name. And despite his protestations, Seigenthaler
wrote, Wikipedia's only action prior to removing the offending
article on Oct. 5 was to change a misspelling on May 29, just
three days after it was originally posted.
"I
have no idea whose sick mind conceived the false, malicious
"biography" that appeared under my name for 132 days
on Wikipedia, the popular, online, free encyclopedia whose authors
are unknown and virtually untraceable. I phoned Jimmy Wales,
Wikipedia's founder and asked, "Do you ... have any way
to know who wrote that?" "No, we don't," he said.
Representatives of the other two Websites said their computers
are programmed to copy data verbatim from Wikipedia, never checking
whether it is false or factual. Naturally, I want to unmask
my "biographer." And, I am interested in letting many
people know that Wikipedia is a flawed and irresponsible research
tool."
"When
I was a child, my mother lectured me on the evils of "gossip."
She held a feather pillow and said, "If I tear this open,
the feathers will fly to the four winds, and I could never get
them back in the pillow. That's how it is when you spread mean
things about people." For me, that pillow is a metaphor
for Wikipedia."
Do
you want your children hanging out in Wikipedia or referencing
material from unprofessional, biased editors who hide behind
aliases?
A
Wikipedia editor who was empowered with administrative powers
at Wikipedia with the nickname "Essjay", the 24-year
old Jordan passed himself off as an older and more mature character:
a Professor of Theology with two PhDs - these impressive credentials
even winning him fame in a New Yorker feature. The deception
did little to stop Jordan's meteoric ascent. Wales appointed
Jordan to "ArbCom", Wikpedia's Supreme Court, and
even found him a position at his own commercial venture, Wikia
Inc.
The
deception was initially unearthed by Daniel Brandt last January,
and has been simmering since early February, when Wikipedians
themselves put two and two together: the Essjay that Wales had
blessed couldn't be the character that Essjay claimed to be.
It breezed into public view last week, with a short disclaimer
on the New Yorker's Website.
Wales
initially said he was happy with Jordan's deception. But after
much criticism Wales asked "Essjay" to resign.
The
Wikipedia incident raises more questions than it answers, as
neither Wales, Jordan, nor the editors at the New Yorker
appears to show a shred of regret for their behavior. And this
is what turns a dull story about the procedures of a tediously
procedural website into a kind of modern morality play.
We're so busy being sorry, we've no time to apologize.
"It's
also one that's thrown up some moments of comic relief,"
observes the The Register.
"In
its account of the episode, the New York Times cites
Jordan, in his professorial disguise, defending his use of the
seminal IDG philosophy textbook, Catholicism for Dummies, explaining
- 'This is a text I often require for my students, and I would
hang my own Ph.D. on its [sic] credibility.'
For
Wales' explanation to be plausible, we must therefore assume
he hadn't checked Essjay's credentials when he promoted him
to Arbitration Committee, and was ignorant of the background
of his newest staffer when Jordan was employed by Wikia Inc.
And he never read the New Yorker.
All
these things are possible - but even with the presumption of
innocence, it does leave you wondering what goes on in Jimbo's
head.
As
for Jordan, he was anything but contrite. He expressed regret
only for hurting his fellow Wikipedians' feelings - not for
doing anything wrong - which as Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger
recounts, is a defiant non-apology.
And
the New Yorker, after being alerted to the deception
by Brandt, conducted a thorough investigation - which miraculously
exonerated its internal fact-checker and star writer!
This
sorry apology was produced: "We were comfortable with the
material we got from Essjay because of Wikipedia's confirmation
of his work and their endorsement of him."
In
other words, the New Yorker found some fictional characters
to endorse another fictional character - which made it all OK.
You wonder why they didn't just take the afternoon off and go
and see Lord of the Rings.
"In
retrospect, we should have let our readers know that we had
been unable to corroborate Essjays identity beyond what
he told us.
Larry
Sanger states: "Something came to my notice about the Essjay
scandal that removed all doubt on a certain point, which placed
things into a clearer perspective."
"A
Wikinews article quotes a page from Essjays old user talk
archives. (Note, this latter page is hosted by Daniel Brandt,
a harsh Wikipedia critic. I would link to the original Wikipedia
page, but it appears to have been deleted from Wikipedia.) Essjay
wrote on Feb. 2: 'Once I accepted a position with Wikia, I was
in a safe place to come out, and I did. Before I
accepted the position, I provided all my real details to Angela
[Beesley] and Jimbo, and immediately provided the same information
to [Wikipedia lawyer] Brad Patrick.'
"This
clearly confirms that Jimmy and crew did know that Essjay was
a 24-year-old who had been impersonating a professor, and they
knew this as early as January, when Essjay started work with
Wikia," says Sanger. "That entails that in January,
Wikia hired Essjay in full knowledge that Essjay had been impersonating
a professor."
"In February, Jimmy nominated Essjay to the Arbitration
Committee knowing that Essjay had been impersonating a professor.
The Arbitration Committee had to accept Essjays nomination.
Presumably, many if not all of the members also knew that he
had been impersonating a professor.
In February, when Jimmy told The New Yorker, I
regard it as a pseudonym and I dont really have a problem
with it, he was referring to the fact that Essjay had
been impersonating a professor."
"I
would like to point out, therefore, why this can be considered
a scandal: it reveals that Wikipedias management did not
regard it as a problem if one of its own co-managers engaged
in identity fraud for personal advantage," says Sanger.
"Indeed, Wikipedias management knowingly aided and
defended such fraud. Only after these sad facts were publicly
exposed, only after there was a hue and cry, did Jimmy Wales
decide to ask for Essjays resignation. Critics may claim
that the world of Wikipedia has its own irremediably corrupt
ethics; but the recent backpedalling of Wikipedias management
actually demonstrates that Wikipedia is in fact still constrained
by the higher ethics of the larger and more mature world of
which it is a part. Thats one good thing it is,
perhaps, the silver lining to be found here in Citizendium."
So
now we have addressed how credible Wikipedia is.
Let's
get back to our lead paragraph.
If
you are Jewish, do you want to support Wikipedia or would you
rather write a letter to the ADL?
I know that those of us who work and live in Israel do not see
Wikipedia as a friend. Nor do we expect an apology to be coming
any time soon from Jimbo Wales.
But
perhaps more than the people of Israel, the Arab residents of
Tayibe should really be upset.
They have no love for Hamas, Islamic Jihad or al-Qaeda. They
are simple people whose only desire is reinforcing peace through
local trade with Israel and feeding their families. To enjoy
a relaxing, air-conditioned stroll through a shopping mall in
Israel without discrimination, without prejudice, without apartheid.
Wikipedia's
slogan is "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit."
Does that now include Osama bin-Laden posing as a citizen of
Tayibe?
Editor's
Note:
The following
paragraph was deleted from the above mentioned Wikipedia
article two hours after this news story appeared on Google
News and FreeRepublic.com.
Until
the 1950's and 60's, the majority of the inhabitants of the
city were Christian Arabs, however many of the original Christian
inhabitants immigrated to America and Canada to seek a better
economic life rather then remain under illegal Israeli occupation
and brutal apartheid control.
The
Israel News Agency thanks whoever removed this libel
against the good people of Israel and Tayibe from the Internet.
But what we continue to question is how many hours, days, weeks
and months had this libel of incitement appeared as fact on
Wikipedia?
Why did it take an international news agency (Wikipedia describes
the INA as a blog - pretty strong blog, eh) to have this lie
removed?
What action will Wikipedia take against the user who posted
it?
And finally, how long will it take for this libel to be re-entered
on Wikipedia?
Related
Websites:
Wikipedia Review





