The Jewish Chronicle, the long-standing Jewish newspaper, announced that it had fired independent journalist Ailon Perry after what it called a "thorough investigation" into reports that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to smuggle himself along with Israeli hostages via the Philadelphia route to Sinai and from there to Iran.
The thorough investigation into the journalist began two days ago, after allegations were made about aspects of his record. The journalist published a series of revelations related to the "Iron Swords" war, including an alleged plan to smuggle hostages through the Philadelphia route.
The newspaper, where Perry worked as an outside journalist, issued an unusual statement: "We are aware of the allegations concerning the freelance journalist, and we are taking them very seriously.".
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The announcement came after the newspaper published a report by Perry - which was quoted in all media outlets - under the headline "Sinwar's secret plan to 'smuggle hostages to Iran.'" The article's subtitle reported that "Documents seized by the IDF and information obtained during interrogations may teach how the Hamas leader intends to extricate himself from his predicament.".
However, IDF spokesman Daniel Hegary clarified at a press conference: "I am not aware of any intelligence information regarding the possibility of kidnappings being smuggled through the Philadelphia route.".
A report published today (Saturday) in the newspaper stated: "Although we understand that he did indeed serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims. Therefore, we have removed his stories from our website and terminated all contact with Mr. Perry.".
The newspaper's statement also stated that "The Jewish Chronicle maintains the highest journalistic standards, and we regret the sequence of events that led to the current situation. We apologize to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this does not happen again.".
