A Hamas-linked advocacy group is training young Palestinians in Gaza to edit and shape Wikipedia entries related to the Israel-Hamas war, launching a new phase of its long-running “WikiRights” initiative.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor announced last week the third edition of the project, which will train 12 Palestinian men and women in what it calls “in-depth human rights research and documentation” alongside professional Wikipedia editing in Arabic and English. The program, first launched in 2015, aims to “record victims’ stories alongside official narratives,” according to the organization.

This year’s training focuses specifically on what the group describes as “the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.” Participants are expected to publish what Euro-Med calls “documentation-based articles” rooted in live testimonies, with the goal of amplifying what it claims are underrepresented accounts of the conflict.

In a statement, Anas Jerjawi, the group’s chief operations officer, said the effort is intended to turn “victims of genocide in Gaza from mere statistics into storytellers,” arguing that some online platforms have failed to accurately reflect the scale of events in the territory.

“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,” Jerjawi said.

The initiative underscores the increasingly central role that open-source platforms like Wikipedia play in shaping global narratives about ongoing conflicts, particularly as digital spaces become battlegrounds for competing claims and documentation efforts.

Israeli authorities have previously linked senior figures within Euro-Med to Hamas. Its current and former board chairs — Mazen Kahel and Ramy Abdu — appeared on a 2013 Israeli-published list of what it described as Hamas’s “main operatives and institutions” in Europe.

Abdu, the founder of Euro-Med, has also been associated with the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza and the Council for European Palestinian Relations, organizations that Israeli officials have similarly tied to Hamas. In 2020, Israel imposed sanctions on Abdu under its anti-terrorism law.

Separately, watchdog group NGO Monitor has accused Euro-Med of promoting inflammatory rhetoric about Israel, including allegations of apartheid, genocide, and war crimes, and of circulating conspiracy theories.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)