On Sunday 15 September, four prominent columnists from the Jewish Chronicle (JC) resigned because of concerns about the newspaper’s editorial standards. It follows the deletion of nine articles written by Elon Perry, a freelance journalist who was also a former Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldier. Perry was found to be fabricating stories around Israeli intelligence and its genocidal war on Gaza. In one of his articles, he claimed to have seen intelligence documents that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to escape Gaza through the Philadelphi Corridor to Iran, potentially with some of the remaining Israeli hostages. This story was also peddled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show why Israel needs to maintain control over the corridor and argue against a ceasefire. However, even the IOF itself dismissed this story as a “wild fabrication”.

While the decision of columnists David Baddiel, Jonathan Freedland, David Aaronovitch and Hadley Freeman to resign shines a light on the problems at the JC, this is far from the first time that it has been involved in controversy. The paper has for decades promoted Islamophobic discourse and produced hit pieces against pro-Palestinian activists – which has led to a remarkable number of successful libel cases being filed against them. Indeed, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) faced widespread calls to carry out an investigation because of the systemic problems at the JC.

In 2020 Robbie Gibb led a consortium to buy the JC and, since then, it has become a mouthpiece for far-right Zionist and Netanyahu. It has never been made clear who the members in this consortium were, nor who the other owners of the newspaper may be. This unprecedented situation means that no one knows who sets the editorial agenda or who is ultimately in charge.

One thing that we know, however, is that the JC is far from impartial. Given its consistent pro-Netanyahu positions and poor editorial standards, it is even more shocking that Gibb sits on the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee. In other words, Gibb is responsible for ensuring that the corporation’s coverage of the news is impartial, fair and accurate. During Israel’s war on Gaza the BBC has consistently fallen short of these obligations, raising the question about the role that Gibb plays in shaping and censoring its coverage of Palestine.

Reacting to the controversy at the JC, Ismail Patel, Founder of Friends of Al-Aqsa, said, “The resignation of four columnists from the Jewish Chronicle sheds light on the newspaper’s systemic failure to uphold editorial standards – an issue that many of us have been acutely aware of for many years. The JC has become a mouthpiece for Netanyahu and conspiracy theories. The BBC must end its association with Robbie Gibb and remove him from all roles at the organisation.”