Savoy Hotel attack: what Wikipedia removed
The Savoy Hotel attack was a 1975 PLO assault on a Tel Aviv hotel in which guests were taken hostage and threatened with execution. In 2010 the opening said “the guests were taken hostage,” that Palestinians threatened to execute them if 20 prisoners were not released within four hours, and that “five hostages were freed, while eight were killed.” Today the opening is a single sentence naming it a terrorist attack by the PLO, with no mention of the hostages, the threat, or the death toll, and hostage appears zero times in the opening though it survives ten times in the article. A reader today learns the attack happened and who carried it out, and not that guests were held hostage, threatened with execution, or that eight of them were killed.
The word “hostage” appeared 3 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 10. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hostage | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| terror | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| militant | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| jihad | 2 | 0 | 0 | 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 opening’s attribution of the attack to members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, reworded to attribute it to the organization directly.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2010 (revision 370633763):
Belligerents Israel File:Plo emblem.png PLO Commanders and leaders ? Abu Jihad Strength ? 8 fighters Casualties and losses 3 soldiers killed 8 civilians killed 7 killed 1 captured 32°04′21″N 34°45′57″E / 32.07250°N 34.76583°E / 32.07250; 34.76583 The Savoy Hotel Attack was a terrorist attack by members of the Palestine Liberation Organization against the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv , Israel , on March 4–5, 1975. At 11:00 PM on the night of March 4, 1975, eight Palestinians in two teams landed by boat on the Tel Aviv beach. Shooting and throwing grenades , they took over the Savoy Hotel near the center of the city. The guests were taken hostage. The Palestinians threate…
2025 (revision 1297399754):
1975 Palestinian attack against civilians in Tel Aviv, Israel The Savoy Hotel attack was a terrorist attack by the Palestine Liberation Organization against the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv , Israel, on 5–6 March 1975. ^ Gaouette, Mark (1 January 2010). Cruising for Trouble: Cruise Ships as Soft Targets for Pirates, Terrorists, and Common Criminals . ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313382345 .
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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