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TWA Flight 840 (1969): what Wikipedia removed

TWA Flight 840 was a 1969 hijacking of a Rome-to-Tel Aviv flight. A 2015 citation in the article was titled “The political economy of terrorism.” The word terror survives six times in the article today, but the opening no longer says who carried out the hijacking. A reader today does not learn that the opening once named the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as the hijackers, stated the operation succeeded even though Yitzhak Rabin was not aboard, described the hijackers’ demand to land in Damascus, or noted that the last two hostages released, in December, were the Israeli passengers.

The word “terror” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2015. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 6. 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
terror01100
hostage33111

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 the aircraft was damaged and two hostages held for two months was retained, with only minor rewording.
  • The identification of the PFLP, the Palestinian left-wing organization behind the hijacking, dropped from the opening.
  • The note that the hijacking succeeded even though Yitzhak Rabin was not aboard, dropped from the opening.
  • The hijackers’ demand to land the aircraft in Damascus, dropped from the opening.
  • The detail that all hostages except two Israeli passengers were released quickly, dropped from the opening.
  • The detail that the two Israeli hostages were released only months later, in December, dropped from the opening.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2010 (revision 371099524):

This article is about the 1969 hijacking. For the 1986 bombing, see TWA Flight 840 (1986) . TWA Flight 840 was a Trans World Airlines flight from Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Rome, Italy to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv , Israel , that was hijacked on 29 August 1969. There were no injuries or fatalities, although the aircraft was significantly damaged, and two hostages were held for two months. In August 1969, leaders in the Palestinian left-wing organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) learned that Yitzak Rabin , the Israeli Ambassador to the United States was scheduled to be aboard a Trans World Airlines (TWA) Rome - Athens - Tel Aviv f…

2025 (revision 1295377064):

Plane hijacking For the later bombing of TWA Flight 840, see TWA Flight 840 (1986) . TWA Flight 840 was a Trans World Airlines flight from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome, Italy, to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv , Israel, that was hijacked on 29 August 1969. There were no fatalities although at least two passengers were lightly wounded and the aircraft was significantly damaged. Two hostages were held for two months. ^ Ottaway, Susan (2008). Fire over Heathrow: The Tragedy of Flight 712 . Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84415-739-6 . ^ “FAA Registry (N776TW)” . Federal Aviation Administration. ^ “The PFLP Hijacking of TWA Flight 840” . Association…

Section titled “Related”

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