‘Israel’ and ‘Holocaust’ among most contentious Wikipedia topics

The topics “Israel” and “Holocaust” are among the most contentious terms throughout the two million articles researched on Wikipedia, writes Dean Joseph.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and three other institutions analysed the most frequently edited subjects in the English, Hungary, German, French, Spanish, Arabic and Hebrew version of the online encyclopaedia.

“Chabad”, “Benjamin Netanyahu”, “Beitar Jerusalem” and “2006 Lebanon War” were found to be the most controversial topics on the Hebrew version of the site. The article “Chabad” has been re-edited 78,336 times.

Researchers also found that the most disputed topics between the Hebrew, Farasi and Arabic versions of Wikipedia were “Gaza War”, “Israel” and “Islam.”

Also included in the most contemptuous articles were, “God”, “Atheism”, “Jesus”, Christianity and “circumcision”.