In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “israeli soldier who committed suicide in a syrian prison”. Today it says “israeli soldier captured by the syrians during operation zarzar on the golan heights who took his own life in c”.
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
Israeli soldier captured by Syria who took his own life (1935–1955) Uri Ilan as a teenager, in the snow in Gan Shmuel , 1950 Uri Ilan ( Hebrew : אורי אילן ; 17 February 1935 – 13 January 1955) was an Israeli soldier captured by the Syrians during Operation Zarzar on the Golan Heights who took his own life in captivity, after being captured in a covert operation. He became a symbol of courage and patriotism in Israel. In a note he left in his shoes which was discovered upon examination of his body, He wrote "I did not betray, I committed suicide", so as not to reveal a military secret. Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan quoted from the note the first words "I did not betray", which became a symbol of personal sacrifice for the sake of the country's security. Reshaping the Past: Jewish History and the Historians .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1289909967.
The opening as it stood in 2010
He became a symbol of courage and patriotism in Israel .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 356357047.
The opening as it stood in 2015
He became a symbol of courage and patriotism in Israel . Reshaping the Past: Jewish History and the Historians .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 647191606.
The opening as it stood in 2020
He became a symbol of courage and patriotism in Israel . Reshaping the Past: Jewish History and the Historians .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 945774397.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Israeli soldier imprisoned in Syria (1935–1955) Uri Ilan Uri Ilan ( , 17 February 1935 – 13 January 1955) was an Israeli soldier who committed suicide in a Syrian prison, after being captured in a covert operation on the Golan Heights . He became a symbol of courage and patriotism in Israel . Reshaping the Past: Jewish History and the Historians .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1173202405.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “israeli soldier who committed suicide in a syrian prison”. Today it says “israeli soldier captured by the syrians during operation zarzar on the golan heights who took his own life in c”. 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
israeli soldier who committed suicide in a syrian prison
Now
israeli soldier captured by the syrians during operation zarzar on the golan heights who took his own life in c
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.
