Don't You Dare Call Slaughter of Jews 'Massacres' or 'Pogroms' on Wikipedia

 

The Aleppo pogrom of 1947 is sanitized by pro-Hamas editor 'Smallangryplanet'

This blog calls Wikipedia's pro-Hamas editors the "Wikipedia flood," after the Hamas killers who crossed into Israel on Oct. 7 to commit genocide. But in practice it isn't a flood as much as it is constant background noise, practiced by hundreds of committed and probably paid operatives, who manipulate Wikipedia processes through sheer numbers, cynical abuse of the rules and determination.

As I've documented in this blog, every article dealing even remotely with Israel and "Palestine" is twisted into pro-Hamas propaganda, and articles on Jewish suffering in the Middle East are censored to remove language, however justified, that tends to make the Arab and Muslim world look bad.

That brings us to the article on the pogrom that massacred Jews in Aleppo, Syria, in 1947, or as Wikipedia tepidly puts it the "1947 anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo." 

The Aleppo pogrom was just that. "Pogrom" is defined as "an organized massacre of helpless people,

specifically such a massacre of Jews." It's a simple concept, and the Aleppo pogrom clearly fits the definition. Seventy-five Jews were murdered and hundreds were injured. The Syrian Jewish community fled en masse in its aftermath and it was not unique. Similar massacres spread throughout the Arab world on the eve of the creation of the State of Israel.

The pogrom is described as just that by numerous scholars, among them the respected Israeli scholar Benny Morris in his book "1948." Morris is noted for his independent and even iconoclastic view of the conflict.

But for the Wikipedia Flood, that will not do. Whenever massacres of Jews in the Arab world are described, antisemitic editors descend on the articles to police the language. Words like "massacre" and "pogrom" are reserved only for Arabs in the Middle East.

So it was with the Aleppo pogrom. Even though the article on the pogrom has called it that for a long time, making it the "stable" version of the article, a member of the thought police made sure that it no longer did. The anti-Israel editor "Smallangryplanet" swooped down in two edits recently to remove every single reference to "pogrom," turning the slaughter into "riots." 

In so doing, "Smallangryplanet" removed categories and lists putting the Aleppo pogrom in the same league as other pogroms and massacres.  

Inclusion in a list of "Anti-Jewish pogroms during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War"? Now way. Not only is the Aleppo pogrom not included on the list, but the list itself is no longer at the bottom of the article. 

The same for a list of "Massacres or pogroms against Jews." Aleppo is not there either because this was, after all not a massacre or a pogrom. A mere 75 Jews dead. Just a rounding error. And besides, they're Jews. When Palestinians are killed by accident by Israeli forces, that is always, always termed a "massacre" on Wikipedia.

Two listings of massacres and pogroms—gone.

The same fate was meted out to inclusion of the Aleppo pogrom in the categories "Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Middle East" and "Massacres in 1947."

'Massacre' and 'pogrom' categories? No way.

So wait a moment, you ask. Given his blatant prejudice, wasn't this "POV-pusher" (as such editors are called on Wikipedia) swept up in the supposed dragnet of anti-Israel editors by the so-called "Arbitration Committee late in 2024? That arbitration "case" received ample publicity despite its paucity of results, and was widely cited (though not by this blog) as a sign of improvement at Wikipedia.

Nope. The editor in question was not named as a party and was not sanctioned.  In fact, Smallangryplanet actually gave evidence to the feckless, inept "arbitrators." He targeted two editors viewed as enemies by the Flood. 

His lawfare worked. Both editors were indefinitely banned from articles on "Israel and Palestine," broadly construed, by the arbitrators.

As for Smallangryplanet, he's working the system just fine. 

A few months later, there was evidence that he was engaged in "sockpuppeting" (creating phony accounts) as well as blatant "POV-pushing." Yet he escaped action by the Arbitration Committee, which in April defeated a motion to indefinitely topic ban him. Arguing in favor of topic-banning, one arb pointed out that he consistently agitated in favor of naming killings of Palestinians as "massacres."

Despite overwhelming evidence of one-sided (not to mention hypocritical) editing, the Arbitration Committee let "Smallangryplanet" off the hook, as it usually does with pro-Hamas editors.

That's not the end of the road for "Smallangryplanet" or the article. His edits may be changed, and he may be disciplined. But what of it? There are plenty of other Hamas operatives to take his place.