1996 Cairo shooting: what Wikipedia removed
A mass shooting outside a Cairo hotel in 1996 killed 18 people, including 17 Greek tourists, and was claimed by Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya. In 2020, and still as of October 6, 2023, the opening described the perpetrator group as “The Egyptian Sunni jihadist group.” Today’s opening names Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya as the group claiming responsibility but drops the word “jihadist” entirely; it appears nowhere in the article. A reader today learns which group claimed the attack but not that Wikipedia once described it as a jihadist organization.
The word “jihad” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2020. Today it appears nowhere in the article at all, references included. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.
The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot
Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”| word | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| jihad | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| terror | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| islamist | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.
What was taken out
Section titled “What was taken out”- This passage described the perpetrator organization as an Egyptian Sunni jihadist group; a reader today does not learn that Wikipedia once used that description.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2020 (revision 938839774):
At 7am on 18 April 1996, four Islamists carried out a mass shooting against a group of 88 Greek tourists outside the Europa Hotel in Cairo , Egypt . Eighteen people were killed - 17 Greek tourists and one Egyptian . The victims were outside the hotel, about to board a bus to Alexandria . Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that they thought the tourists were Israelis . The Egyptian Sunni jihadist group carried out attacks in the 1990s, some of which targeted tourists. ^ Greek tourists killed by Egyptian gunmen ^ Gunmen in Egypt kill 18 in attack at tourist hotel
2025 (revision 1294897047):
At 7am on 18 April 1996, four Islamists carried out a mass shooting against a group of 88 Greek tourists outside the Europa Hotel in Cairo , Egypt . Eighteen people were killed: 17 Greek tourists and one Egyptian . The victims were outside the hotel, about to board a bus to Alexandria . Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that they thought the tourists were Israelis . ^ Greek tourists killed by Egyptian gunmen ^ “GUNMEN IN EGYPT KILL 18 IN ATTACK AT TOURIST HOTEL (Published 1996)” . The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. ^ “EGYPT - Human rights abuses by armed groups” (PDF) . ^ “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” (PDF) .
Related
Section titled “Related”- The drift report: what changed across all 61,944 watched articles
- The case file for this article, with every snapshot and every marked removal
- Who made the cuts: removals grouped by the account that made them
- The live article on Wikipedia
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