In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “israeli prison service hostage rescue and special operations unit”. Today it says “israel prison service”.
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.
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
Metzada Unit ( Hebrew : יחידת מצדה ) is the Israel Prison Service (IPS) tactical unit tasked with detection and arrest of escaped prisoners, hostage rescue, special operations, support operation for other IPS units during raids at correctional facilities, tactical prison riot, and VIP protection. The Metzada Unit is one of five hostage rescue units in Israel. The unit operates during complex occurrences that take place within the correctional facilities all over the country. The unit is nationwide and is directly subordinate to the IPS chief of operations. Since 2006 the Metzada Unit is also subordinate to the IDF General Staff and participates in IDF missions subject to the approval of the IPS Commissioner. Metzada unit specializes in working with non-lethal weapons. Unit's instructors consult and assist on the subject for all Israeli Defense Community.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1287408103.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Military unit Metzada unit ( ) is the Israeli Prison Service hostage rescue and special operations unit, one of five hostage rescue units in Israel . The unit operates during complex occurrences that take place within the correctional facilities all over the country. The unit is nationwide and it's directly subordinate to the IPS chief of operations. Since 2006 Metzada is also IDF General Staff subordinate unit and operates at IDF missions subject to the approval of the IPS Commissioner. Metzada unit specializes in working with non-lethal weapons. Unit's instructors consult and assist on the subject for all Israeli Defense Community.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 897500619.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Military unit Metzada Unit ( ) is the Israel Prison Service (IPS) tactical unit tasked with detection and arrest of escaped prisoners, hostage rescue, special operations, support operation for other IPS units during raids at correctional facilities, tactical prison riot, and VIP protection.The Metzada Unit is one of five hostage rescue units in Israel. The unit operates during complex occurrences that take place within the correctional facilities all over the country. The unit is nationwide and it's directly subordinate to the IPS chief of operations. Since 2006 Metzada is also IDF General Staff subordinate unit and operates at IDF missions subject to the approval of the IPS Commissioner. Metzada unit specializes in working with non-lethal weapons. Unit's instructors consult and assist on the subject for all Israeli Defense Community.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1164061881.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “israeli prison service hostage rescue and special operations unit”. Today it says “israel prison service”. Read the current article and compare.
2020
Oct '23
2025
hostage
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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 since 2020, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
israeli prison service hostage rescue and special operations unit
Now
israel prison service
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.
