Pro-Hamas Wikipedia Editors Lay Siege to 'Screams Before Silence'

The largest section of the article is criticism

On occasion I'll briefly focus on a Wikipedia article that is a good example of pro-Hamas editors in action. Today I'll highlight the article on Screams Before Silence, the searing documentary on systematic rape of Israelis on Oct. 7.

In its current incarnation it looks like this. The article is ridiculously slanted. Its largest segment consists of criticism, in a section that is larger than the one above it, which describes the production of the film.

The bloated "Criticisms" [sic] section leads off with an attack on the documentary by the antisemitic propagandist Ali Abunimah, writing in the online blog "The Electronic Intifada." EI is a Hamas mouthpiece that is so far in the fringes that Wikipedia "deprecates" it. That designation means that it the "Electronic Intifada" is ranked even lower than the ADL, which Wikipedia recently ruled unusable on articles related to Israel.

Wikipedia has the following guideline for deprecated sources: 

The source is considered generally unreliable, and use of the source is generally prohibited. Despite this, the source may be used for uncontroversial self-descriptions, although reliable secondary sources are still preferred.  

It's not supposed to be used but it is used, because the rules do not apply to pro-Hamas editors. They have the numbers, the guile, and the offsite coordination to get their way. They are supported by the large number of Wikipedia editors and administrators who don't actively edit articles on Gaza but are hostile to Israel. As I mentioned to a non-editor only yesterday, the "Wikipedia flood" and its tools are not good-faith editors. They edit to push an agenda. In this case the agenda is to push the Hamas propaganda line denying that rapes took place. 

The other major source of criticism in the "criticisms" section is a YouTube video from "Breaking Points," also a pro-Hamas organ, whose host has lamented that Hamas doesn't have air power to use to kill Jews.

The two editors who inserted this material in the article, violating Wikipedia rules, have the user names Ïvana and Raskolnikov.Rev.   

"Ïvana" is the "resident expert" of the Discord channel that was the subject of the last two items in this blog, which can be found at this link and this one. Its aim is to turn Wikipedia articles into pro-Hamas propaganda, and rape denial is one of their primary tactics. Articles concerning Hamas's widespread sexual assaults on Oct. 7 are a subject of fierce attacks by anti-Israel editors like those two.

One of the pro-Hamas operatives working the article, "FourPi," smeared "Screams Before Silence" by putting it in the "propaganda technique" category. What makes this ironic is not just this editor is themselves a propagandist, but that they had no right to make this edit, or to edit Wikipedia at all. They are a "sockpuppet" of a banned editor and were themselves blocked a few days after making this edit.

The documentary is smeared as a 'propaganda technique'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remember that comments are open and can be anonymous. Tips, critiques, and suggestions are welcome, and I am receptive to guest blogs as well. They can be anonymous or otherwise. Just email me at WikipediaCritic at proton dot me