UK’s Jewish Chronicle removes stories by writer accused of fabrications about Gaza war
Newspaper says it ‘wasn’t satisfied with some’ of the claims Elon Perry made about his bio, apologizes to readers and says it conducted review ‘so that this won’t be repeated’
In a statement posted online Friday night, the Jewish Chronicle announced that it has wrapped up “a thorough investigation” into a freelance writer alleged to have fabricated claims relating to the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
Elon Perry also faced questions about his biography, including his claims to have served as a commando soldier during Operation Entebbe and that he was a professor at Tel Aviv University for 15 years.
“While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims,” said the Jewish Chronicle, without further elaborating. “We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry.”
“The Jewish Chronicle maintains the highest journalistic standards in a highly contested information landscape and we deeply regret the chain of events that led to this point. We apologize to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this will not be repeated.”
The British newspaper launched the investigation after publishing an article by Perry this month in which he alleged a document had been uncovered in the Gaza Strip proving that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle himself and some of the remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7, out of Gaza via the Philadelphi Corridor and from there to Iran.
However, the Israel Defense Forces said it was unaware of any such document actually existing, and as the claim was similar to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent talking points, some have speculated that false information was being distributed as part of a disinformation campaign.
The Jewish Chronicle’s initial announcement this week that it was investigating Perry came days after the IDF said it was launching an internal probe after documents recovered from Gaza were recently leaked to foreign press in an apparent attempt to influence public opinion on the hostage negotiations.
