Wikipedia’s operator rejects petition by pro-Israeli groups

The charitable foundation overseeing Wikipedia stated that it honors the choices made by its volunteer editors after a pressure campaign by pro-Israeli organisations urged the foundation to reverse a decision by editors who labeled the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as an unreliable source on Israel and Zionism.

Over 40 pro-Israeli groups signed a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation's board, arguing that this decision increases the Jewish community's susceptibility to antisemitism, reported the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA).

Wikipedia's editors voted last week to declare the ADL "generally unreliable" on Israel and Palestine as well as the issue of antisemitism, adding the organisation to a list of banned sources.

The report said that an "overwhelming majority" of Wikipedia editors voted to deem the organisation unreliable.

The decision puts the pro-Israel organisation, which has a long history of demonising Palestine activism, in a group alongside the National Inquirer, Newsmax, TMZ, and the conspiracist website Infowars.

"ADL no longer appears to adhere to a serious, mainstream and intellectually cogent definition of antisemitism, but has instead given into the shameless politicisation of the very subject that it was originally esteemed for being reliable on," wrote a Wikipedia editor known as Iskandar323, as reported by JTA.