London: Three prominent columnists have resigned from the newspaper Jewish Chronicle over allegations it published fabricated articles about the Israel-Hamas war.
The resignations on Sunday came after the London-based newspaper removed multiple articles by a freelance journalist and apologised to readers, saying it conducted an investigation into the writer and was “not satisfied with some of his claims.”
The newspaper did not specify which articles by the journalist, Elon Perry, were problematic. Among other claims, Perry — who described himself as a commando in the Israel Defense Forces — alleged that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to smuggle himself and Israeli hostages out of Gaza through the border area with Egypt known as the Philadelphi corridor. The claims were questioned by Israeli media outlets.
Long-time Jewish Chronicle columnist Jonathan Freedland resigned in protest on Sunday, saying “the latest scandal brings great disgrace on the paper" and that it has “departed from the traditions that built its reputation as the world's oldest Jewish newspaper."
“Too often, the JC (Jewish Chronicle) reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgements political rather than journalistic," Freedland wrote on the social media platform X.
Fellow columnists Hadley Freeman and David Aaronovitch also announced they were quitting. Freeman said in a post that she resigned because “recent events have made it impossible for me to stay.”
The newspaper's editor, Jake Wallis Simons, said it was “every newspaper editor’s worst nightmare to be deceived by a journalist" and that the newspaper has cut all ties with Perry.
“His work has now been removed from our website. Readers can be assured that stronger internal procedures are being implemented,” he wrote on X.
