Prominent columnists cut ties with Jewish Chronicle over false Gaza news

A number of prominent columnists have quit the British weekly The Jewish Chronicle after it published contentious claims about Hamas's leader and the remaining Israeli hostages leaving Gaza.

The story, supposedly based on intelligence sources, claimed a document had been uncovered showing that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and hostages would be smuggled out of the territory into Egypt.

But the claims were questioned in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to withdraw troops from a strip of land on the border between Gaza and Egypt, claiming they were needed to prevent arms smuggling.

The Israeli military has reportedly said it has no knowledge of such a document.

Hamas wants Israeli troops out of the territory and their presence is a key sticking point in talks for a peace deal.

Jewish Chronicle editor Jake Wallis Simons on Sunday apologised for the article and said it had "cut all ties" with the freelancer responsible. His work had also been removed from the JC website.

"I take full responsibility for the mistakes that have been made and I will take equal responsibility for the task of making sure nothing like this can happen again," he added.

'Latest scandal'

The retraction and apology is the latest to hit the London-based English-language weekly, which was founded in 1841 and calls itself the oldest and most influential Jewish newspaper in the world.

British media industry publication Press Gazette said last August that the JC had lost more than a dozen complaints to the regulator and libel claims since 2018.

Jonathan Freedland, who has contributed to the JC since 1998 and whose father also worked at the newspaper, wrote on X on Sunday that he was cutting ties as a result of the "latest scandal".

"Too often, the JC reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgements political rather than journalistic," he added, calling for greater transparency about its ownership.

Freedland's former colleagues at The Guardian, David Aaronovitch and Hadley Freeman followed suit, while a representative for the writer and broadcaster David Baddiel said he had "no plans" to contribute further to the publication.

The JC last week said it had ended "any association" with the article's author, Elon Perry, whom it said had worked with the Israeli military.

"While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defence Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims," it wrote on Friday.