Wikipedia Upholds Decision To Ban ADL As A Source
- The Wikimedia Foundation, the parent company of the online database Wikipedia, stated it respects its volunteer editors’ decision to designate the Anti-Defamation League as a ‘generally unreliable’ source on Israel and Zionism.
- The move comes amid a concerted push by Jewish racial advocacy groups to overturn the editor’s decision. A spokesman said the letter was sent to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, which does not make content decisions.
- Wikipedia’s editors voted to label the ADL as untrustworthy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict earlier in the month. Some say the ADL is also considered unreliable on the issues of “antisemitism,” the group’s stated mission.
Further Context: Some have called the decision to ban the ADL as a trusted Wikipedia source a “staggering blow” to the racial advocacy org, with detractors highlighting its pro-Israel and “Zionist” bias.
- Wikipedia editors have remained opposed to the validity of the ADL’s definition of antisemitism, which comes from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. They believe it could be used to stifle “pro-Palestinian voices.”
- “Unfortunately, this letter represents a misunderstanding of the situation and how Wikipedia works…Firstly, it’s important to note that the letter was addressed to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees; neither the Board or the Foundation make content decisions on Wikipedia. A community of volunteers makes these decisions subject to Wikipedia’s terms of use,” said Maggie Dennis, vice president of community resilience and sustainability at the Wikimedia Foundation.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said that Wikipedia’s decision was “flat-out wrong” despite it being an institution he “deeply respects.
- “We should listen to Black people when they tell us what racism is, and listen to LGBTQ groups when they tell us what homophobia is, and we should listen to Jewish people when they tell us what antisemitism is,” Greenblatt said in a TV interview on Friday.
In the headlines: The ADL has increasingly garnered criticism for its heavy-handed efforts to subvert free speech in America, which some say is purely for the benefit of the state of Israel, a foreign country.
- In November, a leaked conference call with Jonathan Greenblatt highlighted the ADL czar’s deep concerns over Generation Z’s lack of support for Israel, blaming TikTok as a major cause for alarm. He also revealed that the organization had infiltrated many pro-Palestine groups in order to keep tabs on organizers and their plans.
- In April, a leaked ADL meeting featuring Greenblatt unveiled a plan to legally prosecute schools in an effort to crush pro-Palestine dissent fomenting on US college campuses. In it, Greenblatt can be heard discussing ways to attack the funding of these institutions in order to “protect” Jews and Israel from critique.
- Also in April, Greenblatt made a site visit to an anti-war sit-in at New York’s Columbia University, and made demandsof Eric Adams and President Biden to send in the NYPD or National Guard to crush the protest. Just days after his demands were made, the NYPD orchestrated a paramilitary raid on the camp, ending the protest by force.
