Yunis Al Astal: what Wikipedia removed
Yunis Al Astal is a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a preacher, one of sixteen people named on a UK list of individuals barred for stirring up hatred. Through 2010 the opening said he was banned for engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs. Today the opening carries neither the ban nor the reason for it, though the word terror survives twice elsewhere in the article. A reader today learns he writes on Islamic law, sociology and politics, and not why the UK government barred him from entering the country.
The word “terror” appeared 2 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today the opening carries none; the body carries 2. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| jihad | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| massacre | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| resistance | 1 | 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 UK government’s stated reason for barring Al Astal, that he sought to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence, dropped from the visible opening text.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2010 (revision 336347205):
Yunis Al Astal is a preacher and Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the area of Khan Yunis He was named on the list of “Individuals banned from the UK for stirring-up hatred” for “engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs and to provoke others to terrorist acts.” In 2006 he was identified as a Qassam Resistance Member by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation . On the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI ‘s visit to Jordan and Israel, he said that Arab governments that welcome the Pope harm the Prophet Mohammed more than the pontiff’s controversial statements against the founder of Islam. ^ Rouse,…
2025 (revision 1282825703):
Palestinian preacher and Hamas politician ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Yunis Al Astal ( Arabic : يونس الأسطل ; born 1956) is a preacher and Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for the area of Khan Yunis . He writes on topics such as Islamic law (fiqh), sociology and politics. ^ Rouse, Beverley (5 May 2009). “Named and shamed: the 16 barred from UK” . The Independent . Archived from the original on 7 May 2022 . Retrieved 6 May 2009 . ^ Jeroen Gunning; p179; Hamas in Politics: Democracy, Religion, Violence; Columbia University Press, 2008; ISBN 0-231-70044-X
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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