Ali Hassan Salameh: what Wikipedia removed
Ali Hassan Salameh was the Black September operations chief behind the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes. In 2020 the opening described him as chief of operations for ‘Black September, the organization responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre and other terror attacks.’ Today the opening calls him a ‘Palestinian militant’ and ‘chief of operations for Black September and founder of Force 17,’ with no mention of Munich massacre responsibility or terror attacks, though terror survives 4 times elsewhere in the article. A reader today learns he led Black September and founded Force 17, not that Wikipedia once identified Black September as the organization responsible for the Munich massacre and other terror attacks.
The word “terror” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2020. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 4. 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 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| militant | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| massacre | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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”- The sentence noting he was also the founder of Force 17 before his assassination is gone in this exact phrasing, though the fact survives reworded elsewhere in the current opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2005 (revision 15969671):
Ali Hassan Salameh ( 1940 ? - January 22 , 1979 ), the so-called “Red Prince”, was the chief of operations for the ” Black September ” organization, which was allegedly responsible for the Munich Massacre and other attacks. His code name was Abu Hassan. He was also the founder of Force 17 . His wife, Georgina Rizk , was Miss Universe 1971 . The Israeli Mossad assassinated him in Beirut in 1979 using a remote-controlled car bomb. They had earlier missed him in 1974 in the Lillehammer affair , mistakenly killing an innocent Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki . According to several sources, Salameh served as a secret contact between the PLO and the CIA from 1970 until his death. Washington Post ar…
2025 (revision 1288760082):
Militant Palestinian nationalist (1941–1979) “Red Prince” redirects here. For other uses, see Red Prince (disambiguation) . “Hassan Salameh” redirects here. For the 1948 Palestinian commander, see Hasan Salama . Ali Hassan Salameh ( Arabic : علي حسن سلامة , ʿAlī Ḥasan Salāmah ; 1 April 1941 – 22 January 1979; code name : Abu Hassan ) was a Palestinian militant who was the chief of operations for Black September and founder of Force 17 . He was assassinated in January 1979 as part of an assassination campaign by Mossad . ^ Shalev, Noam (24 January 2006). “The hunt for Black September” . BBC News Online . Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
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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