The British newspaper “Jewish Chronicle” has removed a report on a fabricated document about the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Yahya Sinwar, and apologized to its readers.
The newspaper published a report on a document it claimed was attributed to Sinwar, indicating that he was planning to smuggle himself and some Israeli detainees out of Gaza via the Philadelphi Corridor. The document caused a stir in Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used it in his press conference.
In a statement posted on the newspaper’s website Friday, the Jewish Chronicle announced that it had completed a “comprehensive investigation” into freelance writer Elon Perry.
Perry faced questions about his resume, including his claims that he served as a commando during Operation Entebbe (the rescue of Israeli hostages kidnapped by fedayeen in 1976) and that he was a professor at Tel Aviv University for 15 years.
“Although we are aware that he served in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims, and therefore we removed his stories from our website, and ended any association with Mr. Perry,” the newspaper said.
“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 does not happen again,” she added.
The newspaper had published a report by Perry earlier this month in which he claimed that a document had been uncovered in the Gaza Strip proving that Sinwar was planning to smuggle himself and some Israeli detainees out of Gaza via the Philadelphi Corridor, and from there to Iran.
But the Israeli military denied any knowledge of the existence of such a document, and since the information in the report was similar to points made at a press conference by Netanyahu, the Jerusalem Post said it appeared to some as false information being distributed as part of a disinformation campaign.
The Jewish Chronicle’s earlier announcement that Perry was being investigated came days after the Israeli military announced it was launching an internal investigation after documents recently recovered from Gaza were leaked to the foreign press, in what it saw as a clear attempt to influence public opinion on prisoner swap negotiations.
