Four journalists have resigned from the world’s oldest Jewish publication following a scandal about fact fabrication. Hadley Freeman, Jonathan Freedland, David Baddiel, and David Aaronovitch all quit the UK’s Jewish Chronicle when it emerged that freelance contributor Elon Perry fabricated material that was used in at least nine articles. The Jewish Chronicle has removed all of Perry’s articles, and those derived from information he supplied, from its website.
The story began months ago when Perry, who claimed to have extensive experience inside the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), began supplying stories to the publication, including intimate details of IDF operations and information Israel had gathered about Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Mr. Perry’s apparent insider knowledge prompted suspicion from fellow reporters, and some Israeli journalists came forward to say much of the data he supplied was simply untrue.
Israeli journalists subsequently accused Perry of planting false information in European news stories, including one in Germany’s influential Bild, to bolster Benjamin Netanyahu’s negotiating strength. For instance, at a press conference, Mr. Netanyahu said the Philadelphi Corridor – a Gaza border area with Egypt – must remain under Israeli control, or Sinwar could use it to escape justice. The following day, Perry wrote a story saying Israeli intelligence had confirmed that Sinwar intended to flee via the corridor. An IDF spokesman quickly shot down the story as baseless, but it had already spread across numerous publications.
The Jewish Chronicle issued a statement apologizing to its readers and saying it deeply regretted the “chain of events” that led to the scandal. In his resignation letter to editor Jake Wallis Simons, Jonathan Freedland said the Perry episode brought “great disgrace” on the paper, which had only shown the “thinnest form of contrition.” Freedland also accused the editor of bias and described the publication as “a partisan, ideological instrument” with a “political rather than journalistic” approach. Freedland wrote for the Jewish Chronicle for 26 years, following in his father’s footsteps.
First published in London in 1841, the Jewish Chronicle has faced criticism for taking a right-ward stance under Mr. Simons’ leadership. Its weekly circulation dropped from more than 32,000 in 2008 to just over 20,000 ten years later.
