The Jewish Chronicle announced on Saturday that it has decided to fire freelance journalist Elon Perry following a thorough investigation after his report on Hamas's supposed plan to smuggle hostages to Iran was proven to be false.
The JC stated the investigation was commenced "after allegations were made about aspects of his (Perry's) 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 said in an apologetic statement published on its website.
In a short internet investigation instigated by The Marker journalist Simi Spolter, serious doubts over Perry's journalistic credibility were highlighted, according to a report by Walla.
Perry not credible
Spolter’s investigation found that Perry has written fewer than ten articles for JC, all in the last two months.
Additionally, some of his articles raise questionable claims. For instance, his previous report suggested that Hamas is actually holding only 20 hostages, which is why negotiations have stalled — a claim he reiterated during an interview on CNN.
Spolter also discovered another of Perry's articles, which detailed the assassination of Mohammed Deif with descriptions that don’t quite resemble journalistic reporting, including: "Planes circled high in the sky for 7 hours waiting for the right moment," "Israeli soldiers disguised themselves as market vendors to confirm Deif’s arrival at the building, and then slipped back to the sea where the navy picked them up."
This reporting style is extremely unorthodox in journalism, especially from an external IDF source such as Perry, who would not have access to this unconfirmed information, the Walla report added.