[WikiEN-l] Conflict of Interest and lobbyists for foreign governments

[Hello all]

The Hasbara Fellowship program is a project of the Israeli Foreign Ministry
which "educates and trains university students to be effective pro-Israel
activists". The program essentially pays people to engage in promoting
Israel's point of view online.

Hasbara has said the following about wikipedia:

<http://www.israelactivism.com/index.php?mode=newsletter#article11>
http://www.israelactivism.com/index.php?mode=newsletter#article11

Everyone knows about Wikipedia, a place to go to get the 'real' scoop. How
often do you use Wikipedia to look up subjects you know little about? Now
imagine how often other people use Wikipedia to look up subjects related to
Israel.

 Wikipedia is not an objective resource but rather an online encyclopedia
that any one can edit. The result is a website that is in large part is
controlled by 'intellectuals' who seek re-write the history of the
Arab-Israeli conflict. These authors have systematically yet subtly
rewritten key passages of thousands of Wikipedia entries to portray Israel
in a negative light.

 You have the opportunity to stop this dangerous trend! If you are
interested in joining a team of Wikipedians to make sure Israel is presented
fairly and accurately, please contact director at israelactivism.com for
details!
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This looks like a concerted and funded effort to push a particular political
POV on wikipedia. If there is a "team" of people paid to edit Israel related
articles in a POV fashion shouldn't they be required to declare their
Conflict of Interest? Should employees or other individuals paid by Aish
HaTorah, which runs the Hasbara Fellowships program on behalf of and with
funding by Israel's Foreign Ministry, have to declare their COI if they edit
Israel related articles?