Jimmy Wales, founder of the online user-generated encyclopedia Wikipedia, one of the most-read websites in the world, personally intervened to stop edits on the entry titled “Gaza genocide,” asserting that it was biased against Israel.

In a comment posted on the article’s talk page on Sunday, Wales wrote that the page in question “fails to meet our high standards and needs immediate attention.”

In a rare move, the Wikipedia co-founder locked the article to prevent any further editing until either Tuesday night “or until editing disputes have been resolved,” in a banner that noted that the freeze on editing was “not an endorsement of the current version.”

In his statement, Wales noted that the article in question states, “in Wikipedia’s voice, that Israel is committing genocide, although that claim is highly contested.”

Israel has repeatedly and strongly pushed back against any claim that it carried out genocidal acts in Gaza, asserting that it was fighting Hamas operatives embedded in the civilian population and that it did everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, including evacuation warnings ahead........

© The Times of Israel