The Jewish Chronicle is famous for two things:
Everyone in the media knows this, which is why the outlet’s latest scandal should come as no surprise:
“Why did a British Jewish newspaper publish fake Israeli intelligence?”
Absolutely damning piece/investigation from an Israeli outlet on the UK’s @JewishChron. Shouldn’t editor @jakewsimons have to resign over this? https://t.co/JGoCq1bNks
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 11, 2024
This latest scandal has gained international reach, meaning the Jewish Chronicle’s reputation is publicly tarnished as never before. And now, the scumbag journos who turned a blind eye for years are expecting us to believe this all comes as a big shock:
I have today told the editor of the Jewish Chronicle that I can no longer continue my relationship with the paper. Here is my letter to him pic.twitter.com/H5FkXJnv16
— Jonathan Freedland (@Freedland) September 15, 2024
So what happened this time?
Canary journalist Hannah Sharland covered the story for us, which was first exposed by Palestinian-Israeli news magazine +972:
Since June 2024, right-wing UK corporate media outlet the Jewish Chronicle (JC) has employed a pro-Israel journalist who appears to have falsified his credentials. Moreover, alongside faking his own history, the journalist put out multiple stories based on fabricated intelligence.
The made-up journalist in question was ‘Elon Perry’:
tech journalist Simi Spolter demolished his Jewish Chronicle bio’s claim to over 25 years of journalism experience. Crucially, Spolter found no “documented history” of this at all. There were simply his nine recent JC articles, and two blog posts for the Times of Israel in 2021.
Sharland went on to report:
Given the potted history of Perry’s falsehoods, it perhaps no surprise too then that his articles on the Jewish Chronicle are also riddled with fabrications.
In particular, +972 Magazine highlighted one notable recent example of this. Specifically, the JC published a Perry article on 5 September titled:
Sinwar’s secret plan to ‘smuggle hostages to Iran’
As the name suggests, the premise was that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle out the remaining hostages to Iran. Specifically, anonymous “intelligence sources” Perry cited had said Sinwar would do this via the Philadelphi Corridor. But curiously, Perry and the JC wrote on the purported evidence from them just a day after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held a press conference with international media driving this exact narrative.
Yet, by all accounts, the story was a lie. Multiple Israeli media outlets, various Israeli intelligence sources, and even IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari dismissed the story as entirely fabricated. In fact, the IDF has even opened an internal investigation into this and another fake news story in German right-wing outlet Bild to hunt down the source for the fake intelligence.
A fake journalist publishing fake stories.
Shocking, right?
It shouldn’t be.
Not given the Jewish Chronicle’s history:
“There will be more victims”
The Canary has covered the “repeated breaches” of journalistic standards perpetrated by this rag. SKWAWKBOX similarly paid attention, producing the following video in 2021 which highlighted a selection of the “entirely false” [0:30] claims the Jewish Chronicle had made against its political enemies:
It’s time to talk about the Jewish Chronicle pic.twitter.com/90NH8K2b1B
— The SKWAWKBOX (@skwawkbox) July 31, 2021
Independent news sites weren’t the only ones, with former Labour (now Green) councillor Jo Bird calling for the following:
We urge @IpsoNews to launch a Standards Investigation into the Jewish Chronicle without delay.
We have seen 28 recorded breaches of the Editors’ Code and four libel defeats in just three years. @pressgazette @journalism_news pic.twitter.com/BUdXIhXkAL— Jo Bird (@JoBirdJoBird) August 3, 2021
You’ll notice the letter predicted that “unless standards improve there will be more victims, while readers will continue to be misled”.
This was in 2021.
Things did not improve in the following years.
And yet several supposedly respectable media types expect you to believe they didn’t see this coming.
Bullshitters on parade
Jonathan Freedland led the charge. The Guardian columnist and now ex-Jewish Chronicle contributor said the following:
I have today told the editor of the Jewish Chronicle that I can no longer continue my relationship with the paper. Here is my letter to him pic.twitter.com/H5FkXJnv16
— Jonathan Freedland (@Freedland) September 15, 2024
Freedland notes that he’s written for the paper since 1998, with his available online articles dating back to 2008. Freedland is blaming everything that’s happened on current editor Jake Wallis Simons. The problem with that? Simons has only been the editor since late 2021 – long after the rot had set in, as we note above. Simons replaced Stephen Pollard who was accused of shoddy standards more than a decade before he bowed out. Here’s what radical Jewish group Jewdas wrote in 2009:
Look I don’t mind that the JC under Stephen Pollard has become markedly more right-wing. It’s an independent publication and can take any stance it wants. Even if it’s right-wing, Pollard has the sense to attract occasional contrary views and apparently on a personal basis he’s quite a pleasant chap. Right-wingers can be good writers and journalists. Even Melanie Phillips is a diligent researcher.
The problem with the JC since Pollard took over last December is that its standards of journalism have deteriorated. First of all, it’s quite clear that Pollard is totally uninterested in anything that isn’t related to Israel or anti-semitism. It’s a rare week that doesn’t feature a cover story about these themes. We’re in the middle of a terrible recession and Jewish communal institutions are cutting staff left right and centre, yet coverage of this is usually shunted to the community section. Such issues effect Jewish life just as much as anti-semitism does but you’d never know it from the brave new JC.
Here’s a press release from 2020 when:
The Jewish Chronicle, its editor Stephen Pollard and journalist Lee Harpin have apologised to Nada al-Sanjari, a school teacher and local councillor over a number of articles they published last year. They have also agreed to pay her a substantial sum in libel damages, as well as her legal costs.
Freedland maybe just didn’t notice all this going on – he is a UK journalist after all, making him one of the least observant people on the planet.
And speaking of braindead British journalists, here they are queuing up to put their own ignorance on display. First we have Hadley Freeman – a writer who also worked for the Guardian until her tepid transphobic takes drew too much negative attention:
To whoever is interested in such things, I’ve resigned as a columnist from @JewishChron. I’m immensely grateful for all the support I’ve had from the editors during my time there, and enjoyed writing for it enormously. But recent events have made it impossible for me to stay.
— Hadley Freeman (@HadleyFreeman) September 15, 2024
Helen Lewis – another “noted anti-trans author” and journalist – said the following:
This story about the Jewish Chronicle is genuinely shocking, and now I see two journalists I admire hugely — @Freedland and @HadleyFreeman — have resigned. https://t.co/2F2lusTT56
— Helen Lewis (@helenlewis) September 15, 2024
It’s hard to see what they “admire” about one another; it can’t be their journalistic talents!
Food critic Jay Rayner said the following:
I have watched with dismay the collapse in integrity and standards of the Jewish Chronicle. It’s been a disaster for the Jewish community. As he explains, @Freedland has been pushing behind the scenes for change. Rightly, he’s had enough. I applaud his decision. https://t.co/xe7rSmJhz9
— Jay Rayner (@jayrayner1) September 15, 2024
‘Pushing for change behind the scenes’, apparently. I wonder at which point Freedland began to push for change in the past 15 years, given that’s how long the outlet’s “integrity and standards” have been in the toilet.
Meanwhile, the BBC were frantically trying to avoid having to mention a certain aspect of the story:
Turns out, the Jewish Chronicle is a propaganda rag for the Israeli govt.
Who knew?
It's almost as if their relentless attacks on Jeremy Corbyn were part of a smear campaign to stop a Palestinian rights campaigner becoming PM and holding Israel to account.
Perish the thought. pic.twitter.com/55zXZF8DZS
— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) September 15, 2024
Yes, BBC Board member and former Tory comms director Robbie Gibb was the 100% publicly-facing holder of the Jewish Chronicle. However, the rag itself admitted just days ago that the owners are now the Kessler Foundation.
People had much to say about the fallout:
As the Jewish Chronicle is accused of publishing lies on behalf of an Israeli govt committing genocide, it's worth remembering the role that particular rag played in Labour's "antisemitism crisis" and the demonization of Palestinian rights campaigner Jeremy Corbyn.#ItWasAScam pic.twitter.com/parB8Na07S
— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) September 15, 2024
The Jewish Chronicle was a propaganda rag for Israel long before the new editor took over.
Jonathan Freedland was perfectly happy to have a "relationship" with the JC when it was smearing Jeremy Corbyn.
Funny that. pic.twitter.com/cdit3qt6me
— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) September 15, 2024
Let this be the end of it
Hilariously, current editor Jake Wallis Simons re-tweeted this yesterday:
Respect to @JewishChron & Editor @JakeWSimons.
One of their 'journalists' failed to meet the most basic professional standards. They investigated and sacked him. Others in press literally employ Hamas supporters and bleed with bias, without flinching.https://t.co/ZNG9s0ut6T
— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) September 14, 2024
Hilarious because the ‘most basic professional standard’ Elon Perry failed to meet was being a real person who actually exists.
Let’s all hope that the Jewish Chronicle follows Perry’s example, and that moving forward it’s no more than a figment of some deranged right-winger’s imagination. Although that’s unlikely to happen:
Turns out, the Jewish Chronicle is a propaganda rag for the Israeli govt.
Who knew?
It's almost as if their relentless attacks on Jeremy Corbyn were part of a smear campaign to stop a Palestinian rights campaigner becoming PM and holding Israel to account.
Perish the thought. pic.twitter.com/55zXZF8DZS
— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) September 15, 2024
Featured image via Royal Court Theatre
