UPDATE: Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has added its name to the list of co-sponsors.
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, joined with 42 organizations to urge Wikipedia editors and the Wikimedia Board of Trustees to reject the efforts of Wikimedia co-founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger to censor the “Gaza genocide” entry on Wikipedia.
Last month, Wikipedia co-founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger posted statements on Wikipedia denying the reality that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. In doing so, they used their roles as Wikipedia founders to bypass the normal editing and review process and introduce their own ideological biases into an entry that has already undergone thousands of edits and comments by Wikipedia editors. Wales had previously declared himself to be “a strong supporter of Israel,” adding, “I don’t listen to those critics.” He has visited Israel over ten times and received a $1 million award from Tel Aviv University.
The attempted censorship by Wales and Sanger has triggered a wave of online criticism from the international community of Wikipedia editors. A broad consensus of genocide scholars, international human rights organizations, UN experts, and both Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations have determined that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
In a letter, CAIR and 42 organizations stated:
“We call on the Wikimedia Board of Trustees and Wikipedia editors to reject and block the efforts of Wikimedia co-founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger to deny the inescapable conclusion that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. We also call on Wales, Sanger, and Wikimedia Foundation trustees to reveal all sources of external pressure to engage in denial of the Gaza genocide, including from Israeli government officials or pro-Israel advocacy networks. Wales and Sanger must be stopped from trying to censor the Wikipedia ‘Gaza genocide’ entry that clearly documents Israel’s horrifying crime against humanity.”
SEE LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS:
CAIR Action
A New Policy
American Friends Service Committee
American Muslims for Palestine
Brave New Films
CODEPINK
DAWN
Doctors Against Genocide
Islamophobia Studies Center
MPower Change Action Fund
Peace Action
United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR)
Local, Regional, and Global Organizations
Ansaar Academy of Inland Empire
Activist San Diego
Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program, San Francisco State University
Artists Against Apartheid
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association
Coalition Against Genocide
CODEPINK – Detroit
For The People Action
General Strike U.S. Detroit
JVP Central Ohio
Labor for Palestine National Network
MARUF CT
Massachusetts Peace Action
Maui for Palestine
Michigan Coalition Against Genocide
Money Out of Politics Movement
Muslim and Friends Phonebank
Palestine South Shore Alliance
Peace Action New York State
Peace, Justice, Sustainability, NOW
ReThinking Foreign Policy
Rinascimento Green
SE MA Coalition for a Free Palestine
Showing Up for Racial Justice – Ventura County
Solidarity Coalition STL Metro East
Stop Genocide
Taxpayers Against Genocide
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
Western Mass CODEPINK
Western New York Peace Center
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com