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Special Night Squads: what Wikipedia removed

A British-Jewish counter-insurgency unit that trained future Israeli commanders Yigal Allon and Moshe Dayan while fighting Arab attacks on the Iraq Petroleum Company pipeline during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt. Through 2010 the opening said the unit’s success “brought a decline in terrorist activity in the area.” Today the opening says nothing about terrorist activity at all, though the word survives three times in the body. A reader arriving now learns the unit fought a revolt and not that Wikipedia once called the pipeline attackers terrorists.

The word “terror” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 3. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word2010201520206 October 20232025
terror21000

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 Hebrew name of the unit, reworded rather than removed.
  • The sentence stating the unit’s composition of British infantry and Jewish Supernumerary Police, dropped from the opening.
  • The description of Wingate personally selecting his men, reworded rather than removed.
  • The statement that British support was minimal and that Wingate collaborated illegally with the Haganah, dropped from the opening.
  • The detail that 50 more Jewish squad members were later drafted into the unit, dropped from the opening.
  • The statement that the unit’s success brought a decline in terrorist activity against the pipeline, dropped from the opening.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2010 (revision 365918359):

Members of the Special Night Squads. The Special Night Squads (SNS) ( Hebrew : Plugot Ha’Layla Ha’Meyukhadot , פלוגות הלילה המיוחדות ) were a joint British-Jewish counter-insurgency unit, established by Captain Orde Wingate in Palestine in 1938, during the 1936-1939 Arab revolt . The SNS comprised British infantry soldiers and Jewish Supernumerary Police. Wingate hand-picked his men, among them Yigal Allon and Moshe Dayan , and trained them to form mobile ambushes. As practical support from the British was minimal Wingate collaborated illegally with the Haganah , reinforcing his unit with FOSH regulars. Wingate, an intelligence officer in the British army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Jeru…

2025 (revision 1294172693):

Counter-insurgency unit in the British Mandate of Palestine Military unit The Special Night Squads (SNS) was a joint British–Jewish counter-insurgency military unit, established by Captain Orde Wingate in Mandatory Palestine in 1938 during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt . The SNS consisted of British infantry soldiers, together with some men drawn from the Jewish Supernumerary Police . Total unit strength was 100 by 1938. Wingate selected his men personally, among them Yigal Allon and Moshe Dayan , and trained them to form small mobile striking units. Wingate also collaborated with the Jewish paramilitary formation, the Haganah , reinforcing his unit with some of Haganah’s Fosh commandos. Cite er…

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