Wikipedia's first sentence called it “professor of international relations and middle eastern studies at the new school and at new york university an”. Today it says “american expert on middle east politics and affairs”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
American political scientist and writer ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Alon Ben-Meir (born 1937) is an American expert on Middle East politics and affairs, specializing in peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab states.1 He operates regularly as a liaison between Arab, Turkish, and Israeli officials. Also, Ben-Meir serves as senior fellow at New York University's Center for Global Affairs where he has taught courses on the Middle East and international negotiations for 18 years, and he is the Middle East Project Director at the World Policy Institute. He hosts "Global Leaders: Conversations with Alon Ben-Meir," a series of debates and conversations with top policy-makers around the world at NYU. He also regularly holds briefings at the US State Department for international visitors. The Temple Mount sits in the background. Ben-Meir writes weekly articles, including a syndicated column in the Jerusalem Post. His articles appear in various newspapers, magazines and websites including, but not limited to: the Middle East Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Le Monde, American Chronicle, the Political Quarterly, Israel Policy Forum, Gulf Times, the Week, the Peninsula, the Jerusalem Post, the World Policy Journal, and Hurriyet. He also makes regular television and radio appearances, and has been featured on networks such as CNN, FOX, PBS, ABC, Al-Jazeera (English and Arabic), Al-Arabiya, Press TV Iran, NPR and Russia Today. He has authored seven books related to Middle East policy and is currently working on a book about the psychological dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Often accused of being overly optimistic in his views, notably concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, Ben-Meir has responded, "There is enough pessimism, pain, and disdain, and I do not choose to add my voice to the chorus of doom.…..I envision a Middle East with Arabs and Jews working and living together to achieve greatness perhaps unknown in human experience. Together, they will usher in a renaissance that will spread its light from sea to sea." "Ridge's Record: Color Alerts and Mixed Security Reviews" .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1174908031.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations and Middle Eastern Studies at The New School and at New York University and is the Middle East Project Director at the World Policy Institute . Alon is an expert on Middle East politics and affairs, specializing in peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. Ben-Meir has been directly involved in various negotiations and has operated as a liaison between top Arab and Israeli officials. Ben-Meir serves as senior fellow at New York University's School of Global Affairs where he has been teaching courses on the Middle East and negotiations for 18 years. Ben-Meir hosts "Global Leaders: Conversations with Alon Ben-Meir," a series of debates and conversations with top policy-makers around the world. He also regularly holds briefings at the US State Department for international visitors. Ben-Meir writes frequently and has appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines and websites including the Middle East Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Le Monde, American Chronicle, the Week, the Political Quarterly, Israel Policy Forum, Gulf Times, the Peninsula, The Jerusalem Post, and the Huffington Post. He also makes regular television and radio appearances, and has been featured on networks such as CNN, FOX, PBS, ABC, al Jazeera (English and Arabic), and NPR. He has authored six books related to Middle East policy and is currently working on a book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ben-Meir holds a masters degree in philosophy and a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University. He is fluent in English, Arabic, and Hebrew.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366297843.
The opening as it stood in 2015 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Alon Ben-Meir is an American expert on Middle East politics and affairs, specializing in peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab states.He operates regularly as a liaison between Arab, Turkish, and Israeli officials.Also, Ben-Meir serves as senior fellow at New York University's Center for Global Affairs where he has taught courses on the Middle East and international negotiations for 18 years, and he is the Middle East Project Director at the World Policy Institute . He hosts "Global Leaders: Conversations with Alon Ben-Meir," a series of debates and conversations with top policy-makers around the world at NYU. He also regularly holds briefings at the US State Department for international visitors. The Temple Mount sits in the background.Ben-Meir writes weekly articles, including a syndicated column in the Jerusalem Post.His articles appear in various newspapers, magazines and websites including, but not limited to: the Middle East Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Le Monde, American Chronicle, the Political Quarterly, Israel Policy Forum, Gulf Times, the Week, the Peninsula, the Jerusalem Post, the World Policy Journal, and Hurriyet.He also makes regular television and radio appearances, and has been featured on networks such as CNN, FOX, PBS, ABC, Al-Jazeera (English and Arabic), Al-Arabiya, Press TV Iran, NPR and Russia Today.He has authored seven books related to Middle East policy and is currently working on a book about the psychological dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Often accused of being overly optimistic in his views, notably concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, Ben-Meir has responded, "There is enough pessimism, pain, and disdain, and I do not choose to add my voice to the chorus of doom.…..I envision a Middle East with Arabs and Jews working and living together to achieve greatness perhaps unknown in human experience.Together, they will usher in a renaissance that will spread its light from sea to sea." "Ridge's Record: Color Alerts and Mixed Security Reviews" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660098937.
The opening as it stood in 2020
( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Alon Ben-Meir (born 1937) is an American expert on Middle East politics and affairs, specializing in peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. He operates regularly as a liaison between Arab, Turkish, and Israeli officials. Also, Ben-Meir serves as senior fellow at New York University's Center for Global Affairs where he has taught courses on the Middle East and international negotiations for 18 years, and he is the Middle East Project Director at the World Policy Institute. He hosts "Global Leaders: Conversations with Alon Ben-Meir," a series of debates and conversations with top policy-makers around the world at NYU. He also regularly holds briefings at the US State Department for international visitors. The Temple Mount sits in the background. Ben-Meir writes weekly articles, including a syndicated column in the Jerusalem Post. His articles appear in various newspapers, magazines and websites including, but not limited to: the Middle East Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Le Monde, American Chronicle, the Political Quarterly, Israel Policy Forum, Gulf Times, the Week, the Peninsula, the Jerusalem Post, the World Policy Journal, and Hurriyet. He also makes regular television and radio appearances, and has been featured on networks such as CNN, FOX, PBS, ABC, Al-Jazeera (English and Arabic), Al-Arabiya, Press TV Iran, NPR and Russia Today. He has authored seven books related to Middle East policy and is currently working on a book about the psychological dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Often accused of being overly optimistic in his views, notably concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, Ben-Meir has responded, "There is enough pessimism, pain, and disdain, and I do not choose to add my voice to the chorus of doom.…..I envision a Middle East with Arabs and Jews working and living together to achieve greatness perhaps unknown in human experience. Together, they will usher in a renaissance that will spread its light from sea to sea." "Ridge's Record: Color Alerts and Mixed Security Reviews" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 965327974.
The opening as it stood in 2025
American political scientist and writer Alon Ben-Meir ( Hebrew : אלון בן-מאיר; born 1937) is an American expert on Middle East politics and affairs, specializing in peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. He operates regularly as a liaison between Arab, Turkish, and Israeli officials. Also, Ben-Meir serves as senior fellow at New York University's Center for Global Affairs where he has taught courses on the Middle East and international negotiations for 18 years, and he is the Middle East Project Director at the World Policy Institute. He hosts "Global Leaders: Conversations with Alon Ben-Meir," a series of debates and conversations with top policy-makers around the world at NYU. He also regularly holds briefings at the US State Department for international visitors. The Temple Mount sits in the background. Ben-Meir writes weekly articles, including a syndicated column in the Jerusalem Post. His articles appear in various newspapers, magazines and websites including, but not limited to: the Middle East Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Le Monde, American Chronicle, the Political Quarterly, Israel Policy Forum, Gulf Times, the Week, the Peninsula, the Jerusalem Post, the World Policy Journal, and Hurriyet. He also makes regular television and radio appearances, and has been featured on networks such as CNN, FOX, PBS, ABC, Al-Jazeera (English and Arabic), Al-Arabiya, Press TV Iran, NPR and Russia Today. He has authored seven books related to Middle East policy and is currently working on a book about the psychological dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Often accused of being overly optimistic in his views, notably concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict, Ben-Meir has responded, "There is enough pessimism, pain, and disdain, and I do not choose to add my voice to the chorus of doom.…..I envision a Middle East with Arabs and Jews working and living together to achieve greatness perhaps unknown in human experience. Together, they will usher in a renaissance that will spread its light from sea to sea." "Ridge's Record: Color Alerts and Mixed Security Reviews" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1287288588. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “professor of international relations and middle eastern studies at the new school and at new york university an”. Today it says “american expert on middle east politics and affairs”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
professor of international relations and middle eastern studies at the new school and at new york university an
Now
american expert on middle east politics and affairs
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.