Qibla (group): what Wikipedia removed
Qibla is a militant Islamist paramilitary group in South Africa labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Through 2015 the opening reported that ‘the Israeli government singled out Radio 786 for its use of “classical anti-Semitic themes,”’ and noted the station’s tribute to Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin as a ‘freedom fighter.’ Today the word appears nowhere in the article. A reader today does not learn that the Israeli government documented antisemitic content from a media outlet tied to the group.
The word “antisemitism” 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| antisemitism | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| terror | 0 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| militant | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| islamist | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| jihad | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| apartheid | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
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 opening’s original first sentence describing the group’s founding was reworded before being dropped.
- The U.S. State Department terrorist designation was reworded but remains present in the article.
- The detail that the group voiced support for convicted terrorists is gone from the opening.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2010 (revision 368817993):
Qibla is a militant Shi’a Muslim organisation in South Africa, founded in the 1980s. The group espouses jihad and the establishment of an Islamic state in South Africa. Qibla is associated with People Against Gangsterism and Drugs , which was founded in 1996. ^ (U.S.) Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor South Africa : International Religious Freedom Report 2004
2025 (revision 1231732449):
Qibla ( Arabic : قبلة) is a militant Shi’a and Sunni Islamist political organization and paramilitary group based in South Africa . The radical group was founded by Ahmed Cassiem in 1979. Ahmed Cassiem was incarcerated on Robben Island by the apartheid regime for much of his adult life. The meaning of Qibla comes from the Quran meaning direction. It is in the direction of Mecca that multiple times a day Muslims pray towards. The group was seeking to remove apartheid along with all of the other organisations which were dedicated to the fight against apartheid. The organisation has members of both Sunni and Shia persuasion. The group was also founded in order to advance Islam in South Africa, …
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
Wikipedia text is quoted under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is not affiliated with Wikipedia.