Talk:Ghassan Abu-Sittah

Controversies section
While the "Controversies" section could exist in some form, as I found it all of the sources were either tabloids or pro-Israel lobbying organizations. These clearly have conflicts of interest. With only these sources the section does not meet the threshold for biographies of living persons, so I have removed it entirely.ElasticSnake (talk) 22:07, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

The sources are much more varied now after some work by myself. I have tried to emphasise overlapping information especially including Al Jazeera, Gulf News, and Al Akbar. It looks like this information is currently making its way through UK press now so we should have more sources imminently too. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13248255/Fury-Gaza-war-surgeon-hailed-terrorist-murder-Israeli-rabbi-hero-elected-rector-University-Glasgow.html - Tennisist123 28/3/2024

'Early life' passage partly written in non-encyclopedic style
The biographical passage on "Early life" is not neutral, but written in a politicized context. Is there any independent evidence for the statement "ethnically cleansed the village were his family lived for generations"? Which village is it referring to? On the exact date of May 15, 1948? References to the current situation like "2024 stands in ruins" are also not part of this person's biography. Overall, this makes passage sound non-encyclopedic, but rather accusatory. It would be OK to read this in an autobiography or opinion piece of an Anti-Israel activist like Abu-Sittah, but Wikipedia should be neutral.--Mdphddr (talk) 13:53, 17 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I suggest to replace this non-neutral passage: "In 1920, his grandfather Sheikh Hussain built a school with his own money in the small village where they lived and made education central to the family’s life. On 15 May 1948 the Zionist paramilitary forces Haganah ethnically cleansed the village were his family lived for generations and drove them into a refugee camp in Khan Younis that 2024 stands in ruins in the Gaza Strip (1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight−2023 Israel–Gaza war)."


 * With


 * According to Abu-Sittah (if no other sources other than his own statements from here (already referenced in the article) are provided), his grandfather Sheikh Hussain built a school with his own money in the small village of ? (a name would be appropriate) where they lived in 1920 and made education central to the family’s life. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the family was expelled to a refugee camp in Khan Yunis.--Mdphddr (talk) 13:53, 17 April 2024 (UTC)


 * About that fateful 15 May 1948 you can find out something here:
 * A Palestinian Address to Balfour: In honor of truth, memory, and justice /
 * the video to this speech: Dr Salman Abu Sitta’s Address to Balfour at the University of Edinburgh, Council for British Research in the Levant, 30 November 2022
 * about the village הבית הלבן - ח'ירבת מעין, Cheers --93.211.214.52 (talk) 14:17, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
 * WP:NOR we must rely on sources that are typically reliable, published secondary sources.
 * general, the most reliable sources are:
 * Peer-reviewed journals
 * Books published by university presses
 * University-level textbooks
 * Magazines, journals, and books published by respected publishing houses
 * Mainstream newspapers
 * You can read more at the link above.
 * Thanks and good luck finding some more sources!
 * Tennisist123 (talk) 07:30, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Wiki rules are clear. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Perennial_sources
 * Mondoweis is not acceptible for biographies, especially for large claims such as this without any other supporting evidence. I have removed. If someone can find real sources evidencing these statements, we should re add without all the biased language from our anonymous friend. Tennisist123 (talk) 18:21, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
 * 1. That's not so. 2. Many people refer to IP editing as "anonymous editing." But in reality, IP editing is less anonymous than registering a username. IP addresses in many cases can be traced to an exact location. On the other hand, if you create an account and edit under that, your IP address will be hidden from most users. IPs should not be intimidated or be pressurised to sign up.
 * Read: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Good_Faith_Wikipedians_Who_Remain_Unregistered_on_Principle . Cheers, --93.211.214.52 (talk) 22:34, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
 * You are a WP:SPA and Mondoweis fails WP:Reliable for WP:BLP. Please find a stronger source if you want to include this information. Tennisist123 (talk) 07:27, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Absolutely flabbergasting this passage was blanketed with nothing being put in its stead, while editors dump all over the article anti-Palestinian propaganda clearly designed to justify the censorship campaign being waged in Europe against this man. Peleio Aquiles (talk) 11:53, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

Cancellation of event on a 'pretext'
@Makeandtoss I had not looked at the history and seen that you had reverted a previous edit of the word 'pretext' in the controversies section about the Berlin conference already. Now, I am not a native speaker of English, but from my understanding using the word 'pretext' would be a value judgement saying that this was not the real reason the conference was cancelled. This may very well be the case, and something you can say about the whole cancellation, but it is not something that was said in the source, neither by the author of the article, nor by any of the people interviewed, making it a value judgement by the article, which would violate NPOV. That was the only reason why I had edited it in the first place after reading the source article.

I don't want this to be some petty edit war over a word, that's why I am starting this section here. If I am mistaken then no problem at all. SatanicHorse (talk) 17:45, 4 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Please noe that you are not allowed to edit here per WP:ARBPIA and are restricted to making edit requests. That said, pretext holds no judgmental value as far as my understanding. Makeandtoss (talk) 17:53, 4 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Pretext just means the reason given in the context. Unless another, actual reason is given then what is left is fairly neutral on whether the pretext is the real reason or a false one. Iskandar323 (talk) 18:09, 4 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Although now that I've read the pretext, what on earth does his uncle have to do with anything? What a joke. Iskandar323 (talk) 18:12, 4 May 2024 (UTC)

Israel-Hamas war section
Twice today 3 paras here have been blanked. As per Tennisist123, "A change this large must be discussed on the Talk page first. There have already been some discussions but unilateral deletion of content sourced with tier 1 UK media for a brit is not appropriate." Why should this material not be included in the article? Yadsalohcin (talk) 16:09, 9 May 2024 (UTC)


 * I blanked it the second time because the editor restoring the material is not permitted to edit articles in the AI topic area. Having now looked at the material, the first thing I would the Jewish Chronicle? "There is no consensus on whether The Jewish Chronicle is reliable for topics related to the British Left, Muslims, Islam, and Palestine/Palestinians; there is also a rough consensus it is biased in these topics. Where used, in-text attribution is recommended for its coverage of these topics" and I would say based on the current discussion at RSN, that is likely to be turned into an unreliable for those areas. LFI is a dubious source that engages in Israeli sponsored lawfare.
 * As for the "investigation", Sir Anton Muscatelli wrote to the UKLFI advocacy group saying: 'The Rector is a wholly independent role (separate from University senior management) with no executive authority in the University, and whilst the Rector is free to express their thoughts and represent those of students- indeed this has been the case throughout history- we are clear these views are independent and do not represent those of the University.' this appears in the equally unreliable Daily Mail but it is clear that there is no investigation and the rector appointment has gone ahead.
 * On this basis I have removed the LFI/JC material and left the rest. Selfstudier (talk) 17:06, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The Abu Hamid bit seems to fail WP:NPOV (esp WP:WEIGHT). Plus the source provided doesn't even mention any number of murders - it says, word for word: "In another article, he grieved for Nasser Abu Hamid, a Palestinian militant leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who was convicted of several murders and died of cancer after 20 years in prison". So per WP:BURDEN the current sentence should be either removed or edited to reflect what the source says. IMO a random mention in passing of this in an article doesn't seem relevant enough to be of encyclopedic value, and BLP articles need to have higher standars per WP:BLP. Not all events in a notable person's life are notable. - Ïvana (talk) 17:27, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Ur right, I knocked that out as well. Selfstudier (talk) 17:50, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for clarifying this. - Yadsalohcin (talk) 23:40, 9 May 2024 (UTC)