Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing: what Wikipedia removed
The 2003 Hamas suicide bombing of a bus in Haifa that killed 17 people, many of them university students. Through October 6 2023 the opening called Hamas “the Palestinian Islamist militant organization Hamas.” That phrase is gone today; the opening now says only that “Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.” A reader today learns Hamas claimed the bombing and not that Wikipedia’s own opening once identified Hamas as an Islamist militant organization.
The word “islamist” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2015. 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 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| islamist | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| terror | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| militant | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 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”- An older phrasing of the opening sentence, reworded when the article was rewritten.
- The detail that many of the victims were Haifa University students left the opening.
- The description of Hamas as a Palestinian Islamist militant organization left the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2010 (revision 345776400):
The Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing was a terrorist attack on a civilian bus in Haifa by a member of the militant organization Hamas . ^ Suicide bombing of Egged bus No. 37 in Haifa , Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs , January 21, 2004.
2025 (revision 1284125466):
2003 terrorist attack by Palestinian militants in Haifa, Israel The Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing was a Palestinian suicide bombing carried out on 5 March 2003 on an Egged bus in Haifa , Israel . 17 passengers were killed in the attack and 53 were injured. Many of the victims were university students from nearby Haifa University . Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber was 20-year-old Mahmoud Umdan Salim Qawasmeh, a student at the Palestine Polytechnic University . An Israeli Arab resident of Haifa who helped plan the attack was also tried and sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement. ^ “Suicide bombing of Egged bus No. 37 in Haifa March 5, 2003” . Israeli Ministry …
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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