In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “first suicide car bomb attack carried out by palestinian militants and took place on april 16”. Today it says “first suicide car bomb attack carried out by palestinian militants and took place on 16 april 1993”.
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 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “first suicide car bomb attack carried out by palestinian militants and took place on april 16”. Today it says “first suicide car bomb attack carried out by palestinian militants and took place on 16 april 1993”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
1993 Palestinian suicide car bomb attack in the West Bank The Mehola Junction bombing was the first suicide car bomb attack carried out by Palestinian militants and took place on 16 April 1993. Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash rigged a Volkswagen Transporter using three large propane tanks and explosives collected from grenades and other ordnance . The bomb was connected to a detonator switch in the driver's controls. Hamas operative Saher Tamam al-Nabulsi drove the car to Mehola Junction, a rest area on the Jordan Valley Highway in the West Bank . Just after 1:00 am, the car exploded between two buses, one civilian and one military. The blast killed al-Nabulsi and Marwan Ghani, a Palestinian from the nearby village of Bardala who worked in a snack bar in Mehola. Ghani's brother and eight Israeli soldiers were slightly injured. An investigation conducted after the attack revealed that several weeks before the attack, on March 15, 1993, the terrorist ran over and killed Avish Yaakov Barakha, a resident of Har Brakha , and Ofer Cohen. It was also revealed that the terrorist wanted to carry out the attack within the Green Line territories, but IDF checkpoints prevented him from reaching there. Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Illustrated ed.). Katz (2002), pg. 74 "Suicide car bomb kills 2 near West Bank restaurant" .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1286474441.
The opening as it stood in 2010
The Mehola Junction bombing (also known as the Beit El bombing , literally, the House of God bombing) was the first suicide car bomb attack carried out by Palestinian militants and took place on April 16, 1993. Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash rigged a Volkswagen Transporter using three large propane tanks and explosives collected from grenades and other ordinance. The bomb was connected to a detonator switch in the driver's controls. Hamas operative Saher Tamam al-Nabulsi drove the car to Mehola Junction , a rest area on the Jordan Valley Highway in the West Bank . Just after 1:00 AM, al-Nabulsi pulled the rigged car in between two buses and detonated it. The blast was directed upwards, instead of radially outward. The blast killed al-Nabulsi and a bystander Marwan Ghani from the nearby village of Bardala . Ghani's brother and eight Israeli soldiers were slightly injured. Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Illustrated ed.).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 356560618.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Mehola Junction bombing (also known as the Beit El bombing , literally, the House of God bombing) was the first suicide car bomb attack carried out by Palestinian militants and took place on 16 April 1993. Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash rigged a Volkswagen Transporter using three large propane tanks and explosives collected from grenades and other ordnance. The bomb was connected to a detonator switch in the driver's controls. Hamas operative Saher Tamam al-Nabulsi drove the car to Mehola Junction, a rest area on the Jordan Valley Highway in the West Bank . Just after 1:00 AM, the car exploded between two buses, one civilian and one military.The blast killed al-Nabulsi and Marwan Ghani, a Palestinian from the nearby village of Bardala who worked in a snack bar in Mehola. Ghani's brother and eight Israeli soldiers were slightly injured. Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Illustrated ed.).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660250462.
The opening as it stood in 2020
1993 Palestinian suicide car bomb attack in the West Bank The Mehola Junction bombing (also known as the Beit El bombing , literally, the House of God bombing) was the first suicide car bomb attack carried out by Palestinian militants and took place on 16 April 1993. Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash rigged a Volkswagen Transporter using three large propane tanks and explosives collected from grenades and other ordnance. The bomb was connected to a detonator switch in the driver's controls. Hamas operative Saher Tamam al-Nabulsi drove the car to Mehola Junction, a rest area on the Jordan Valley Highway in the West Bank . Just after 1:00 AM, the car exploded between two buses, one civilian and one military. The blast killed al-Nabulsi and Marwan Ghani, a Palestinian from the nearby village of Bardala who worked in a snack bar in Mehola. Ghani's brother and eight Israeli soldiers were slightly injured. Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Illustrated ed.).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 946563788.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
1993 Palestinian suicide car bomb attack in the West Bank The Mehola Junction bombing (also known as the Beit El bombing ) was the first suicide car bomb attack carried out by Palestinian militants and took place on 16 April 1993. Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash rigged a Volkswagen Transporter using three large propane tanks and explosives collected from grenades and other ordnance. The bomb was connected to a detonator switch in the driver's controls. Hamas operative Saher Tamam al-Nabulsi drove the car to Mehola Junction, a rest area on the Jordan Valley Highway in the West Bank . Just after 1:00 am, the car exploded between two buses, one civilian and one military. The blast killed al-Nabulsi and Marwan Ghani, a Palestinian from the nearby village of Bardala who worked in a snack bar in Mehola. Ghani's brother and eight Israeli soldiers were slightly injured. Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (Illustrated ed.). Katz (2002), pg. 74 "Suicide car bomb kills 2 near West Bank restaurant" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178201882.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “first suicide car bomb attack carried out by palestinian militants and took place on april 16”. Today it says “first suicide car bomb attack carried out by palestinian militants and took place on 16 april 1993”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
terror
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3
militant
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jihad
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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 between 2010 and 2025.
Then
first suicide car bomb attack carried out by palestinian militants and took place on april 16
Now
first suicide car bomb attack carried out by palestinian militants and took place on 16 april 1993
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.
