Crisis at the Jewish Chronicle is no surprise

JVL Introduction

From the Press Gazette to the BBC, the Telegraph to Guardian, there has been a flurry of media reports about the distress of the Jewish Chronicle, often described as the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, losing its big name liberal Zionist contributors following revelations about fake news it had published seemingly to bolster the fortunes of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

The story has spread beyond the UK. France’s Le Monde quoted Jewish Voice for Labour co-chair Jenny Manson saying she was shocked but not surprised that the JC could publish such false information. “The Jewish Chronicle was a newspaper that my family respected for a long time,” she told Le Monde, “ but its drift to the right began years ago, and it became more obvious when the newspaper made multiple accusations of antisemitism against (former UK Labour Party leader) Jeremy Corbyn.”

The current crisis at the Jewish Chronicle should surprise no one. In response to the Guardian’s initial coverage, some of those who had fallen foul of the JC’s hostility to Corbyn-supporting critics of Israel have submitted a letter to the editor to remind readers of the JC’s poor journalism and editorial conduct over several years. They note that after the JC was obliged to pay substantial libel damages to one of them, the writer of the offending story, Jake Wallis Simons, was then promoted to editor of the paper. The group have also written to IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) pressing their case for a standards investigation of the JC.

We publish here their letter to the Guardian, followed by the latest revelations about the Jewish Chronicle from investigative journalist Paddy French. The original appeared on Press Gang on September 16 and can be read here.

[Note: French provides up-to-date information about Sir Robbie Gibbs’ relationship with the JC, correcting errors in Alan Rusbridger’s otherwise illuminating conversation with James O’Brien on LBC. Gibbs’ role, including membership of the Board of the BBC, was referenced on Radio4’s Today programme on Monday Sept 16. Listen 1 hour 28 minutes in.]

NWI

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Letter To the Editor

It was with considerable interest that we read the Guardian’s “IDF investigates claim Jewish Chronicle published stories based on ‘fabricated intelligence’” (Peter Beaumont, 12 September). We are people who have experienced the consequences of the Jewish Chronicle’s poor journalism and editorial conduct. Each of us has secured a ruling from the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) and/or won libel settlements against the JC.  Based on our collective experience, the paper’s problems are systemic, not isolated, and extend well beyond the reporting of the news itself. We have witnessed a sustained policy of it targeting critics of the Israeli government.

In just the last six years, IPSO has issued rulings against the JC in relation to 41 breaches of its Editors’ Code of Conduct — an astonishing figure, given that the JC is a weekly publication — and has settled in multiple libel cases, all in which the victim was an advocate for Palestinian human rights. The case of anti-racist campaigner Marc Wadsworth is telling: After the JC had to pay Mr Wadsworth substantial damages for being libelled in a JC article by Jake Wallis Simons, Mr. Simons was then promoted to editor of the paper.

We call on IPSO to launch a Standards Investigation into the JC — a power that IPSO has never yet used — and indeed we call for an independent review of why IPSO has for so long resisted our calls to investigate the paper despite repeatedly being presented with abundant evidence of systemic failings.

Signed,

Jo Bird

Inayat Bunglawala

Tom Gauterin

Jenny Lennox

Kal Ross

Tom Suárez

Marc Wadsworth

Audrey White

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 Elongate – The Jewish Chronicle is in crisis

By Paddy French, Press Gang

Last month Press Gang revealed the issue of new shares in the company that owns the paper. At the same time, Sir Robbie Gibb — the BBC board member accused by former BBC presenter Emily Maitlis of being “an active agent of the Conservative party” — resigned as a director. Gibb was the front man for the consortium which bought the paper in April 2020. The real owners have never been revealed. The paper declined to say who owns the newly issued shares.

But this mystery is dwarfed by a new crisis at the Chronicle. Editor Jake Wallis Simons has been forced to sack freelance journalist Elon Perry after he was accused of fabricating a sensational story to support Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Other contributors, including David Baddiel, David Aaronovitch and Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, have jumped ship in the wake of the scandal.

Elongate threatens the existence of the paper …

Dark arts

Last Thursday Jake Wallis Simons announced the result of an investigation into an article written by one of the paper’s freelance journalists, Elon Perry.

On September 5 Perry wrote an exclusive for the Jewish Chronicle claiming that Hamas was planning to smuggle hostages out of Gaza. Citing internal Israeli intelligence documents, he said Hamas was planning to use the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt to move Israeli hostages to the Sinai desert. This article followed a press conference held by Benjamin Netanyahu the day before in which he suggested this was possible.

As soon as the Perry’s Jewish Chronicle piece was published, senior Israeli officials said it was untrue. They said Perry’s intelligence did not exist and the exercise was an attempt to support Netanyahu’s determination not to let the hostage issue derail his military operations in Gaza.The Pulitzer Prize-winning Israeli investigative reporter, Ronen Bergman, called the article a “wild fabrication”.

Journalists also began digging into Perry’s past. In his biography on the Jewish Chronicle website, for example, he claimed to have 25 years experience as a journalist. The Israeli journalist Simi Solter noted:

Personally, I have not found any article or mention of him in the Hebrew media … Apart from nine articles in the [Jewish Chronicle] all of them from recent months, there is no documented history of Elon Perry as a journalist of 25 years.

A Press Gang sweep of the newspaper database Newsbank also found no British articles with Perry’s byline. Perry’s Jewish Chronicle articles appear to be his only mainstream credits. Perry also claimed, falsely, to have been a professor at Tel Aviv university for more than 15 years.

Perry hit back: the Jewish Chronicle decision was “a huge mistake,” he said. The criticisms were a “witch-hunt … caused by jealousy from Israeli journalists and outlets who could not obtain the details that I managed to”.

Mystery man

So who is Elon Perry?

He was born in 1957 and brought up in the Israeli town of Netivot, close to the border with Gaza. His website says he’s an expert on Gaza:

As a commando who took part in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including bold operations in the alleyways of Gaza, I will analyze the fighting from a military operational point of view, particularly on the issue of ground operations.

As a journalist who covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for 28 years, I will analyze the war from the historical-political point of view.

Press Gang research shows that he came to Britain in 2009 and married Gillian Walnes, at the time chief executive of the Anne Frank Trust UK. At one Trust event, Perry was photographed with his wife and Michael Gove.

In 2011 he formed a company called Elon Perry Media, describing himself as an Israeli citizen. The firm was dissolved in 2015 without ever trading.

In an interview with the Jewish Telegraph in 2014 he said he once attended a press conference with Netanyahu where he asked the Prime Minister why Israel did not invest in better public relations:

The PM’s answer was: “It won’t help. They will hate us anyway.”

Elon calls this attitude “arrogant”.

He said: “The Palestinians are winning the war because of the lack of Israeli propaganda which stems from arrogance.

The Jewish Telegraph said Perry:

… now devotes himself on a voluntary basis to improving Israel’s image, giving lectures on the situation all around the UK and meeting top politicians behind the scenes to improve Israel’s image.

He said: “I am now meeting people in Downing Street. To me it is an achievement to have come here anonymously, not knowing anybody and now meeting and working with these people, like Education Secretary Michael Gove.”

Perry told the Jewish Telegraph that he also runs tours of Israel’s battlefields for teenagers.

It is a good way for young Jews to get to know Israel. They love to hear a story from a soldier who was on the battlefield.

A decade after he gave this interview, Perry — by now also a British citizen — had clearly changed his mind about Netanyahu …

Denouement

The increasing criticism of Perry’s article forced Jewish Chronicle editor Jake Wallis Simons to act.

Early last Thursday the paper issued a statement:

The Jewish Chronicle is aware of allegations concerning a freelance journalist, which we take very seriously. The Jewish Chronicle is the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world and has always maintained the highest standards of reporting and integrity. An investigation is underway and there will be an update in due course.

The investigation took a day. On Friday, Wallis Simons issued another statement:

The Jewish Chronicle has concluded a thorough investigation into freelance journalist Elon Perry, which commenced after allegations were made about aspects of his record. 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.

The paper deleted all nine of Perry’s articles.

The fabricated Gaza story was published at 3.55 on September 5.

This morning Press Gang asked Wallis Simons:

— was the Gaza article already written when Netanyahu gave his news conference on September 4?

— was there collusion between Perry and Netanyahu’s office?

— what part, if any, did he (Wallis Simons) play in all this?

He did not reply by the time we went to press.

We put the same questions to Perry.

He did not answer.

Leading Jewish Chronicle columnists have now abandoned the paper, including writer and comedian David Baddiel and the journalists David Aaronovitch and Guardian writer Jonathan Freedland.

Freedland said Jake Wallis Simons had shown only the “thinnest form of contrition” over the scandal.

Yesterday, Wallis Simons responded:

Falling standards

The Jewish Chronicle has been a nightmare for its regulator, the press watchdog, Ipso.

One ruling against the paper — the case of former Liverpool Labour activist Audrey White in 2020 — was especially damning.

Ipso said:

… the publication’s conduct during Ipso’s investigation was unacceptable.

The committee expressed significant concerns about the newspaper’s handling of this complaint.

The newspaper had failed, on a number of occasions, to answer questions put to it by Ipso and it was regrettable the newspaper’s responses had been delayed.

The Committee considered that the publication’s conduct during Ipso’s investigation was unacceptable.

The Committee’s concerns have been drawn to the attention of Ipso’s Standards department.

The paper also settled a libel action brought by Audrey White.

In December 2021, this case and a number of other findings against the paper, led to Ipso considering a formal investigation.

This is Ipso’s most potent weapon — it can impose fines of up to £1m.

However, it decided that:

… targeted training … would be the appropriate and proportionate course of action …

The regulator noted that the Jewish Chronicle had changed hands and there was a new editor — Jake Wallis Simons.

Simons had been the deputy editor.

But the paper continued to be a serious problem for Ipso.

In May 2023 its Complaints Committee found against the paper in a complaint — Gregson and Weiss v Jewish Chronicle — in terms which were remarkably similar to its 2020 Audrey White ruling:

The Committee expressed significant concerns about the newspaper’s conduct prior to publication …

The Committee considered that the publication’s conduct was unacceptable, and their concerns were drawn to the attention of IPSO’s Standards department.

On Friday, Press Gang asked Ipso what happened to this referral.

We also asked if it would now proceed with a Standards investigation.

There was no reply by the time this article was published.

UPDATE

This afternoon Ipso responded to Press Gang’s queries:

We are carefully reviewing developments at the Jewish Chronicle.

As regulator, IPSO’s role is to protect high editorial standards to promote a robust and trusted newspaper, magazine and digital news industry.

We are ready to intervene where we have concerns about standards issues. We have no further comment to share at this time.