Did Wikipedia remove the word "ethnic cleansing" from the Benny Morris article?

Yes. "ethnic cleansing" appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 5. We saved the article's opening paragraph at 6 moments between 2005 and 2025, and the counts come from those saved copies.

When did the Benny Morris article stop using the word "ethnic cleansing"?

The word appeared 1 times in the opening at its peak in 2005. It is absent from today's opening, the part search engines quote and AI systems train on, checked against the live article on 2026-08-02.

How can I verify what Wikipedia's Benny Morris article used to say?

Each snapshot on this page links the Wikipedia revision it came from, so you can open their own history and compare. We also keep our own copy of the text, which stays readable if the article changes again.

What did Wikipedia remove from the Benny Morris article?

The opening as it read in 2005

He is considered the most influential and prolific member of the New Historians , a group of scholars who have challenged much of the received wisdom of the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict . The son of immigrants from England , Morris was born in Kibbutz Ein HaHoresh and was a member of the left-wing HaShomer HaTza'ir youth movement. In 1988, he was imprisoned for refusing military service in the West Bank town Nablus . Morris received his doctorate from Cambridge . Morris is currently professor of history at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be'er Sheva . In his studies of the origins of the Palestinian refugee problem, Morris argues that the approximately 700,000 Palestinians who fled from their homes in 1947 left mostly due to Israeli actions or fear of Israeli actions, but not as the result of a preexisting expulsion plan. He documented atrocities on the part of the Israeli armed forces, including cases of rape, torture, and ethnic cleansing . Morris was once considered a representative of the radical left; he was accused of being an "Israel hater" and was boycotted by the Israeli academic establishment. But his disillusionment with the peace process has caused him to increasingly make statements commonly associated with the right-wing, while still claiming to belong to the left.¹

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16173243.

The opening as it stood in 2010 9 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Benny Morris (born 1948) is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva , Israel . He is a key member of the group of Israeli historians known as the New Historians . Morris's work has won praise and criticism from both sides of the political spectrum in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict . He is accused being pro-Palestinian by some and pro-Israeli by others. Regarding himself as a Zionist , he writes, "I embarked upon the research not out of ideological commitment or political interest. I simply wanted to know what happened." Shlaim, Avi.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366535554.

The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Benny Morris ( ; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He is a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba , Israel . He is a key member of the group of Israeli historians known as the " New Historians ," a term Morris coined to describe himself and historians Avi Shlaim and Ilan Pappé . Morris's work on the Arab-Israeli conflict and especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has won praise and criticism from both sides of the political divide. He is accused by some academics in Israel of only using Israeli and never Arab sources, creating an "unbalanced picture". Regarding himself as a Zionist , he writes, "I embarked upon the research not out of ideological commitment or political interest. I simply wanted to know what happened." "Morris, Benny 1948–" .

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660819729.

The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Israeli historian Benny Morris ( ; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba , Israel. He is a member of the group of Israeli historians known as the " New Historians ," a term Morris coined to describe himself and historians Avi Shlaim and Ilan Pappé . Morris's work on the Arab–Israeli conflict and especially the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has won praise and criticism from both sides of the political divide. Regarding himself as a Zionist , he writes, "I embarked upon the research not out of ideological commitment or political interest. I simply wanted to know what happened." "Morris, Benny 1948–" . Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929 .

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963981505.

The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023

Israeli historian (born 1948) Benny Morris ( ; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba , Israel. He is a member of the group of Israeli historians known as the " New Historians ," a term Morris coined to describe himself and historians Avi Shlaim , Ilan Pappé and Simha Flapan . Morris's work on the Arab–Israeli conflict and especially the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has won praise and criticism from both sides of the political divide. Regarding himself as a Zionist , he writes, "I embarked upon the research not out of ideological commitment or political interest. I simply wanted to know what happened." "Morris, Benny 1948–" . Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929 .

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176161718.

The opening as it stood in 2025

Israeli historian (born 1948) Benny Morris ( Hebrew : בני מוריס ; born 8 December 1948 ) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba , Israel. Morris was initially associated with the group of Israeli historians known as the " New Historians ", a term he coined to describe himself and historians Avi Shlaim , Ilan Pappé and Simha Flapan . Morris's 20th century work on the Arab–Israeli conflict and especially the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has won praise and criticism from both sides of the political divide. Despite regarding himself as a Zionist , he writes, "I embarked upon the research not out of ideological commitment or political interest. I simply wanted to know what happened." One of Morris major works is the 1989 book The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1948 which, based on then recently declassified Israeli archives, demonstrated that the 1948 exodus of Palestinian refugees was in large part a response to deliberate expulsions and violence by forces loyal to Israel, rather than the result of orders by Arab commanders as had often been historically claimed. Scholars have perceived an ideological shift in Morris's work starting around 2000, during the Second Intifada . Morris's perspective has been described as having become more conservative and more negative towards Palestinians, viewing the 1948 expulsions as a justified act. Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929 . The strange career of Israeli 'New Historian' Benny Morris.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1295541425. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.

Benny Morris

What Wikipedia says this is

Sections that no longer exist