Ze'ev Friedman: what Wikipedia removed
Ze’ev Friedman was an Israeli weightlifter and member of the Israeli Olympic team killed in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Through 2020 the opening stated he was murdered by terrorists in that massacre. Today the opening says only that he was killed in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, dropping the word terrorists, which survives three times elsewhere in the article. A reader arriving now learns he was killed and not, in this sentence, who Wikipedia’s own words once named as his murderers.
The word “terror” appeared 1 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”| word | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 6 October 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| terror | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| massacre | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
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”- A reformatting of his birth and death dates and description, no fact lost.
- The statement that he was murdered by terrorists, changed to say only that he was killed; the word terrorists survives three times elsewhere in the article.
How it opened then, and now
Section titled “How it opened then, and now”2010 (revision 346859808):
Ze’ev Friedman (June 10, 1944 - September 6, 1972), was an Israeli flyweight weightlifter . A member of the Israeli Olympic team , he was murdered by terrorists in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre . ^ Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
2025 (revision 1287624589):
Israeli weightlifter Ze’ev Friedman ( Hebrew : זאב פרידמן; 10 June 1944 – 6 September 1972) was an Israeli flyweight weightlifter . A member of the Israeli Olympic team , he was killed in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre . ^ “Jewish Sports Hall of Fame” . Archived from the original on 3 March 2012 . Retrieved 15 February 2010 .
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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