Past getting rewritten right now

Commentary magazine spots a rewrite in progress. I just checked his claim by comparing the current version of the state department 2002 list of consulates against the google cached version of that list. In google’s cached version, the US in 2002 recognized Jerusalem as part of Israel. In the live version from the state departments servers, not only does no one in the world now recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel, the US back in 2002 did not recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel either.

Normally I would not bother mentioning such a relatively minor rewrite of history, but I report it because the change is happening right now and shows up on google’s servers. Wikipedia’s Jerusalem article has reported for some time that no one recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. You can usually see the latest version of the past appear first on Wikipedia, so this revision of history has been under way for some time.

Thus, for example, the 2007 version of Wikipedia’s Jerusalem article begins:

Jerusalem is the capital and largest city of Israel in both population and area, with 732,100 residents in an area of 125.1 square kilometers (49 sq mi). Located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern tip of the Dead Sea, the city has a history that goes back as far as the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world. Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE

The latest and greatest version begins:

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, though not internationally recognized as such. If the area and population of East Jerusalem is included, it is Israel’s largest city in both population and area, with a population of 763,800 residents over an area of 125.1 km2 (48.3 sq mi).[3][4][iv] Located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea, modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the boundaries of the Old City.

Similarly the section of the article that was formerly titled “Capital of Israel” has been retitled “Political Status”.

Wikipedia changes, and in due course the documents it cites are corrected to agree.

Only the future is certain. The past is always changing.

2 Responses to “Past getting rewritten right now”

  1. Joe says:

    For future reference, here is the first paragraph of the wiki article as it stands today.

    Jerusalem is a city in the Middle East, located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority claim Jerusalem as their capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power; however, neither claim is widely recognized internationally.

    https://archive.is/LVO3x

    At the time of writing, two out of 88 embassies were located in Jerusalem, being those of the United States and Guatemala.

    https://archive.is/T67Hg

  2. Genius says:

    Having lived in Jerusalem for two years, I can confirm that it is, in fact, the capital of Israel.

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