ADL Claims Wikipedia Failed to Remove Antisemitic Edits

More than a year after the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) first identified a group of at least 30 Wikipedia editors allegedly coordinating to inject anti-Israel bias and antisemitic narratives into the online encyclopedia, the organization states that little has changed. The ADL's latest report, "Damage Done: Wikipedia Leaves Biased Edits Unchecked Despite Editor Bans," released in 2026, claims that the website has failed to remove or correct much of the concerning content.

"We had expected that these editors would be removed. We had expected that their edits would have been reversed. We expected that new policies would have implemented. Almost nothing has changed," ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt told Fox News Digital.

In 2025, the ADL's report, "Editing for Hate," detailed a "coordinated campaign" manipulating Wikipedia content related to Israel, Palestine, and similar topics, including pro-Hamas perspectives in Arabic-language content. The group of editors identified was reportedly at least twice as active as comparable groups.

While Wikipedia's community banned some of these editors or restricted their activity, the ADL asserts that the underlying issues persist. The organization's 2026 report found that across seven reviewed articles, including "flagship pages," 91% of edits made by banned editors remained live and uncorrected. Greenblatt likened the situation to arresting individuals for vandalism but leaving the graffiti on public buildings, stating, "It's as if you had an individual who was spraying graffiti on the walls of public buildings. You might arrest that individual, but you don't erase or clean up the graffiti."

The ADL highlighted the case of an editor known as Iskandar323, who was part of the initial group. According to the ADL, this editor made 485 edits across six high-traffic articles related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – including "Israel," "Gaza war," "October 7 attacks," "Hamas," "Zionism," and "Jews" – with 225 edits occurring after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) had previously addressed Iskandar323's conduct, finding that the editor "engaged in disruptive behavior in the PIA topic area, including consistently non-neutral editing." Despite a topic ban, the editor continued to edit related subjects, leading to a site ban. Shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks, Iskandar323 reportedly removed substantial information from the "Hamas" article, relocating details about the group's antisemitism, use of human shields, and child combatants to a less prominent article, "Criticism of Hamas."

Further analysis by the ADL indicated that on November 21, 2023, the same editor removed approximately 17,000 characters from the "Gaza war" page, including forensic evidence of violence from the Oct. 7 attacks. Two days later, additional witness accounts were removed.

"These are not innocuous edits," Greenblatt stated. "These are intentional changes designed to drive a narrative, a narrative that number one, demonizes the Jewish state. That, number two, removes all context from terror incidents in general, and specifically, specifically, that sanitizes and launders what happened on October the 7th, the worst, most brutal attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust."

The ADL emphasized that Wikipedia's influence extends beyond its own platform, as it is frequently a top result in search engines and a foundational source for many Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI technologies. Greenblatt warned that "Wikipedia has lost trust" at a critical juncture when AI is increasingly relying on its content.

While the ADL noted a decrease in overt coordination among the initially identified editors following scrutiny, its 2026 report suggests that problematic edits continue through "quieter, subtler techniques." The organization identified 19 active accounts editing Israel and Palestine-related articles, eight of whom had avoided sanctions despite being part of the original group. These editors are reportedly using methods like undoing changes, hedging claims, and slow article rebuilding to evade detection.

The ADL has proposed recommendations including stronger accountability measures from the Wikimedia Foundation, such as verifying editor identities, ending anonymous IP editing, and establishing a task force on antisemitic bias. The organization also urged search engines and AI developers to increase transparency about their reliance on Wikipedia and develop bias-detection tools. For policymakers, the ADL called for continued oversight hearings and the creation of a task force to monitor content manipulation. The public and press were encouraged to recognize potential Wikipedia framing in AI summaries and to verify sources.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Wikimedia Foundation for comment but did not immediately receive a response.