Report: Arabic Wikipedia Riddled With Hamas Propaganda & Terrorist Sources
A World Jewish Congress investigation reveals systemic bias on Arabic Wikipedia, where terrorist organizations are portrayed as “resistance movements” and suicide bombers as “martyrs."
A new World Jewish Congress investigation has exposed systemic bias and extremist propaganda on Arabic-language Wikipedia, raising alarm about the integrity of a platform that receives approximately 95 million monthly visits. The report, titled “Captured Knowledge: Systematic Bias, Hostile Actors, and Governance Failures on Arabic Wikipedia,” reveals that more than 25% of citations in key articles, and over 50% in some cases, originate from Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist propaganda outlets.
The Saraya al-Quds article—about Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization—sources roughly half its references directly from the group’s own website. The findings underscore a broader concern, manipulated information ecosystems are feeding not only public discourse but also the artificial intelligence systems that millions worldwide rely on for information.
Terrorist Groups Portrayed as Freedom Fighters
The investigation documented that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are frequently described as legitimate resistance factions on Arabic Wikipedia, while attacks on Israeli civilians are systematically labeled "martyrdom operations." The article on Hamas leader Muhammad Deif, a U.S. designated global terrorist, refers to him reverentially as "the martyr Muhammad Deif."
A dedicated section in the Al-Qassam Brigades article titled "Precedence in Palestinian Resistance" celebrates 39 "firsts" in terrorism, including "the first martyrdom bomber in the First Intifada" and bus bombings that killed dozens of civilians as proud achievements worthy of note.
The October 7 attacks are titled using Hamas's own designation, "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood," and consistently described as a legitimate military operation targeting occupation forces rather than an internationally recognized terrorist attack.
Governance Failures Enable Propaganda
The report identified influential administrators within Arabic Wikipedia's leadership who have publicly rejected Wikipedia's neutrality principle as a "Western concept." Bassem, Arabic Wikipedia's top contributor with over 320,000 edits, wrote in a published opinion article that "the Arabic Wikipedia community categorically rejected neutrality in its Western flavor after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation." He has threatened editors who attempt to present Israeli perspectives, warning one in 2018 that "if you continue in this manner, you will not remain on the encyclopedia."
An editor who attempted to document Hamas's sexual violence was permanently banned from Arabic Wikipedia by Bassem. Of the 23 administrators of Arabic Wikipedia, 16 have edited at least one of the nine articles examined in the investigation.
AI Training Data Contaminated
"When terrorist propaganda and hate-driven narratives are allowed to masquerade as neutral information, the consequences extend far beyond Wikipedia itself," said Yfat Barak-Cheney, executive director of the World Jewish Congress's Institute for Technology and Human Rights. "These distortions shape public understanding and views of Jews and Israelis across the Arabic-speaking world."
Wikipedia content is widely used to train AI models and inform search results, meaning biased material can propagate far beyond the platform itself. As AI systems increasingly rely on multilingual information sources, contaminated knowledge bases pose growing risks to information integrity globally.
Calls for Urgent Reform
The World Jewish Congress called on the Wikimedia Foundation to enforce existing neutrality standards, remove administrators who enable extremist propaganda, and implement centralized monitoring mechanisms for terrorism-related content. The report also urged technology companies and search engines to apply safeguards when relying on Wikipedia content for AI training until meaningful reforms are implemented.