August 11-12, 2014 -- Wikipedia troll editing
There is increasing evidence that Wikipedia is being troll edited by individuals on the payroll of the Israeli government and its lobbying and influence-peddling organizations in the United States and other countries. Israel, no longer assured of near-unanimous support among members of the press in the United States and other nations, has resorted to using anonymous Wikipedia editors to insert libelous statements on the Wikipedia pages of critics of Israeli policy.
The offending entries on Wikipedia pages include catch phrases like "fringe," "conspiracy theorist," and "anti-Semitic." One Washington, DC journalist, who wrote about the
massive funding by the Jewish Federations of North America for various Israeli propaganda causes, soon found that his Wikipedia entry had been altered by a troll editor using the handle PlotSpoiler. The journalist and book author found that he was, according to Wikipedia, a "fringe journalist." An anonymous editor called "Capitalismojo," living near Madison, Wisconsin and who is a former employee for the Wisconsin employment and administration departments, has made it a cause to troll this editor's Wikipedia entry. Attempts to edit erroneous information and a threat to sue the Wikimedia Foundation were met with intransigence on the part of the troll editor Capitalismojo and Wikipedia.
Troll editing on Wikipedia has been linked directly to such quasi-Israeli government entities as the media "watchdog" operation "CAMERA," or Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America." CAMERA, formed in 1982 by a group of Jewish activists in Boston tied to the Israeli government, has been the bane of many a newspaper editor or television news reporter. The group had a vendetta against ABC's Peter Jennings and the formerly rather unbiased National Public Radio for their even-handed Middle East reporting. At least five Wikipedia editors were found to be trolling for CAMERA and they were suspended. However, the rules governing Wikipedia permit many other CAMERA and pro-Israel trolls to operate with impunity.
Outside the CAMERA infrastructure, other Israeli groups also troll Wikipedia. Special Wikipedia editing classes have been sponsored on illegal settlements in the West Bank by the organizations Yesha Council and Israel Sheli. CAMERA's efforts were joined by the Hasbara Foundation (Hasbara is the term used for any Jew around the world who advances the propaganda of Israel). In 2007, the Hasbara Foundation, decrying the presence of unbiased information on Israel on Wikipedia, targeted certain editors' entries. The Hasbara Foundation claimed, "These authors have systematically yet subtly rewritten key passages of thousands of Wikipedia entries to portray Israel in a negative light. You have the opportunity to stop this dangerous trend! If you are interested in joining a team of Wikipedians to make sure Israel is presented fairly and accurately, please contact [the Hasbara Foundation] director."
Complementing the Wikipedia troll editing is the Israeli government program seeking supporters to post pro-Israel comments on Internet news websites. In 2009, the Israeli Foreign Ministry budgeted 600,000 shekels (approximately $150,000) for its
"internet warriors" to post pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian messages on various comments sections of news websites. Since then, the effort, called "Hasbara 2.0," has grown in size and budget.
Taking matters into my own hands, I began changing the erroneous entries on my Wikipedia entry. As Wikipedia tagged my IP address for lockout and banned me from further edits, a simple trip to Starbucks or McDonald's, which all have different IP addresses and from where I made further edits, sent the smartbot programs and editors at Wikipedia into a frenzy with charges that the same person was "vandalizing" the Wikipedia entry for "Wayne Madsen." However, after several "vandalizing" edits, the term "conspiracy theorist" has been absent from the entry for a week. However, the bot was determined to restore another disparaging entry using the disreputable Daily Beast as a source. The bot "correction" states: "
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