A Hamas-linked organization, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, is training Gazans to edit Wikipedia pages about the Israel-Hamas war as part of its “WikiRights” program.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor announced last week the launch of the third edition of the WikiRights project in the Gaza Strip, which targets 12 young Palestinian men and women and provides them with “in-depth training in human rights research and documentation, as well as professional editing on Wikipedia.”
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor launched the WikiRights project in 2015 to “record victims’ stories alongside official narratives.”
The training covers creating, developing, and updating content, and involves using editing and contribution tools in both Arabic and English.
Euro-Med claims to want to help participants to produce reliable content and address knowledge gaps concerning human rights violations in Palestine, “at a time when online platforms often disseminate false information about victims of armed conflicts.”
Round three of the project is focused on “the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.” Upon completion of the training, participants are expected to take add “documentation-based articles to Wikipedia that are rooted in live testimonies” in an attempt to “showcase the stories of genocide victims in Gaza and ensure their voices are heard.”
Euro-Med Monitor’s link with Hamas
Euro-Med Monitor’s Chief Operations Officer, Anas Jerjawi, said, “Training young people to edit Wikipedia content seeks to transform victims of genocide in Gaza from mere statistics into storytellers, especially given the recent failures of some platforms or their complicity in not conveying the scale of genocide.”
“At a time when online platforms often disseminate false information about victims of armed conflicts, it is crucial for us to empower young people to share accurate facts and document Israeli crimes, ensuring that these details are not exclusively recorded by the perpetrators,” Jerjawi added.
Euro-Med, however, has ties to Hamas. Its current and former Board Chairs (Mazen Kahel and Ramy Abdu) appear on a 2013 list, published by Israel, of Hamas’ “main operatives and institutions” in Europe.
Abdu, the founder of Euro-Med, has also been involved with organizations like the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) and the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR), which too have been linked to Hamas.
The Israeli government imposed sanctions on him under its anti-terrorism law in 2020.
According to NGO Monitor, Euro-Med has been active in disseminating blood libels and conspiracy theories about Israel, and accuses Israel of “apartheid,” genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” “collective punishment,” and “war crimes.”
Its staff has expressed support for Hamas or Hamas figures.
