Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Operation Wrath of God

Operation Wrath of God

Self-nomination This article originated from the article on the 1972 Munich massacre, but was then seperated and expanded greatly. As with any intelligence/covert matter, sources are both limited in number and inherently difficult to authenticate. I have tried to create the basis of this article from information that many sources agree upon, and then point out specific authors when more contentious points are made. This article obviously covers a lot of sensititve ground (terrorism, Israeli-Palestinian & Arab conflicts) but I believe it presents everything in a relatively bias-free way. I hope for your support and crits. Thanks, Joshdboz 01:44, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

• Comments leaning towards oppose. This is a controversial article (like all articles about the Arab-Israeli conflict) that needs a good and deep review. But for now, I have some comments.
  • There is issues with the lead.
    • It's too small. Consider expanding it tow 2-3- paragraphs long.
    • It does not summarize the article by not stating any criticism.
  • POV issues
    • It has been brought up in the peer review: Excessive use of the word "terrorist". Wikipedia:Words to avoid states that it is a POV word unless someone uses it about themselves (and of course very few do). They could easily be replaced by "militants", "hijackers", "perpetrators", "those responsible of"... For example, in "Palestinian terrorist group Black September", the "terrorist" word is unnecessary and POV, so it could be easily removed.
    • I now there is not much sources, but Arab texts are welcomed to balance the article.

I'll read the article many more times to spot more problems. Thank you. CG 20:13, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your helpful comments! I have tried to expand the intro to include just about every facet of the article, though there still could be room for more. I understand the issue of using "terrorist" and believe it has been completely removed from the article. It still refers to terrorism though in the sense that Israel was doing these things to deter future terrorism, at least from its perspective. You're correct in that all the sources are either Israeli or other Western authors, and since there is such a lack of written material about these incidents, I would assume that it would be the same for Arabic material. There is one quote in the article by Abu Iyad in which he defends the first victim Abdel Wael Zwaiter for being "energetically" against terrorism. I simply do not have the ability to find out if there are any other texts available. However, I would argue that most of the Israeli and Western authors are quite balanced in their portrayal of the operation, and some, such as Benny Morris and Victor Ostrovsky, are not blindly pro-Israel by any measure. Thanks again, Joshdboz 12:11, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

• Comment better coverage of Palestinian sources needed. Perhaps I can contact somebody more familiar with Arabic. Wandalstouring 09:48, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

As an update, I have added information based on statements mainly from Palestinian leaders Abu Iyad and Abu Daoud to both the "operations" section of the article and the "criticism" section. User:Salim555 has also helped greatly in expanding on certain points in the article and adding criticism as to the campaign's overall effectiveness.--Joshdboz 12:20, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Looks good. I support FA. Wandalstouring 17:01, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

• SupportWandalstouring 17:02, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
• Support Good FA-quality article.UberCryxic 17:31, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
• A comment that popped ou of my head. Is this possible to add a section about International or Arab reactions to the operation? Thank you. CG 13:43, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Sure, I'll try to get it up soon. Some of it might overlap, however, with some of the criticism if we are talking about an individual person's reaction. Joshdboz 20:44, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

I've added an "Arab World" reaction section with the tidbits I've found.Joshdboz 22:14, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

• Comments - Some of these may simply be failures on my part to understand the obvious, but I'll mention them for the sake of thoroughness.
  • The Ali Hassan Salameh section states "This belief has since been challenged by accounts of senior Palestinian officials..." should this say "PLO officials", or is this speaking of leaders of the Palestinian government?
  • Also, further down in that section is "Several other officers arrived under pseudonyms, including Peter Scriver and Roland Kolberg, traveling with British and Canadian passports respectively." were Roland Kolberg and Peter Scriver pseudonyms, or are these their actual names. If I am simply being dull, feel free to hurt me.
  • A little further down from that, "and finally, after 5 previously failed attempts,[32] The Mossad killed Salameh..." the "finally" sounds POV, the "the" doesn't need to be capitalized, and I'm not sure what bothers me about "previously failed attempts". I would prefer something like "after 5 previous attempts, the Mossad succeeded in killing Salameh..."
  • The Munich hostage-takers section mentions "...the German rescue attempt at Fürstenfeldbruck airbase...", which I don't recall being mentioned elsewhere in the article. Perhaps a little background info could be added about this?

--Lethargy 20:58, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Great points, thanks for reviewing this. I believe I've addressed each, although the "rescue attempt" section could still be expanded more if you think necessary. Thanks again, Joshdboz 21:35, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

• Support - Looks great, I linked to the rescue, but perhaps a small mention of what happened would be useful. Other than that, everything seems cleared up. --Lethargy 22:36, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
• Thank you for the "Arab reactions" section. While I would really like to see an "International reactions" section, anyway, it's a great article. Strong Support. CG 07:17, 21 September 2006 (UTC)