Jewish Chronicle IDF inquiry into claims of stories planted for disinformation campaign

The Israel Defense Forces have launched an investigation into allegations in the Israeli media that the London-based Jewish Chronicle published stories based on "fabricated intelligence" relating to Hamas, amid claims they may have been planted as part of a disinformation campaign.

- Peter Beaumont

Among the most controversial claims published by the Jewish Chronicle, the world's oldest Jewish newspaper, was the suggestion last week that the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, might be preparing to flee to Iran with Israeli hostages, a suggestion that has also been made by Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Jewish Chronicle article is one of several sensational reports that have been written in recent months by a writer bylined as Elon Perry, whose résumé claiming he has worked as a journalist and academic and served as an elite undercover soldier has also been questioned.

Checks by the Guardian have found no evidence of any record of significant stories published by Perry as a reporter in English or Hebrew, except for the recent series of articles in the Jewish Chronicle now alleged to be fabrications.

Perry's articles for the paper in recent months have included what was claimed to be a detailed depiction of the killing of the Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, the veracity of which has now been questioned.