Jewish Chronicle writers quit over 'fabrications'

A number of prominent columnists have resigned in protest from the Jewish Chronicle (JC) after allegations it printed articles about the Gaza conflict based on "wild fabrications".

- Matthew Weaver

The weekly title, the world's oldest Jewish newspaper, is facing calls for an investigation after it deleted nine articles by Elon Perry because of doubts over their accuracy and concerns he had misrepresented his CV.

The sensationalist articles by the former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier allegedly included fabricated claims about Israeli intelligence. In a brief statement on Friday announcing the deletions, the paper said it was not satisfied by some of Perry's claims.

"The Jewish Chronicle has concluded a thorough investigation into freelance journalist Elon Perry... after allegations were made about aspects of his record," it said. "While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims. 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 apologise to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this will not be repeated." Yesterday, four of the JC's columnists, David Baddiel, Jonathan Freedland, David Aaronovitch and Hadley Freeman, announced they had resigned in protest over the scandal.