Secular Owner of Chareidi Site Threatens to Sue Rov Over Internet Ban

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bechadreiGuy Cohen, CEO of Global Networks, the Internet media company whose Websites include the Bechadrei Charedim site, is threatening a million-shekel lawsuit against Rav Moshe Karp of Modi’in Ilit, who, behind-the-scenes, has led a three-week-old campaign against chareidi websites.

The campaign has already led to the closure of one major site, Hareidim, and the resignation of key figures from others. Cohen, a businessman who is not religiousl, is hoping to save Bechadrei.

On Motzoei Shabbos, Cohen met with Rav Karp and gave him a letter claiming that the rov under cover of the official boycott, was slandering him and engineering threats to the site’s advertisers. The letter informed Rav Karp that he could face NIS 1 million suit for slander.

The boycott began with a letter in the chareidi dailies signed by dozens of rabbonim.

The letter, which Rav Karp is thought to have written, targets not the estimated hundreds of thousands of users of the internet, but rather the operators of the chareidi sites.

“Recently, chareidi internet sites have been sending forth all sorts of reports and gossip and slander against the chareidi public…” the letter said in part.

Subsequently, both editors in chief of Bechadrei, Dovid Rotenberg and Dov Povarsky, announced they were leaving the site. One of the sites that continued operation, Kikar Hashabbos, is being attacked directly in the chareidi press. The ban generates headlines on a near-daily basis.

Bechadrei continues to operate, and Guy Cohen said recently that user numbers have not declined.

Cohen said he has, however, been hurt by the flight of advertisers from the site.

At a meeting last Motzoei Shabbos at Rav Karp’s Modi’in Ilit home, Cohen offered to submit the portal to the rabbonim‘s authority, including increased supervision of forums by the direct representatives of the rabbonim. According to sources who attended the meeting, he was rebuffed. Rav Karp demanded that Cohen close the site, and that is when Cohen produced the letter informing Rav  Karp of his intention to sue.

{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}


16 COMMENTS

  1. Baruch Hashem! This is proof that advertisers are heeding the words of Gedolei Yisroel shlita, withdrawing their money from these so-called frum sites (which as we see from the story above the sites are anything but frum).

    The sites are feeling the financial pressure and will hopefully soon collapse.

  2. What the rabbonim should really do is organize a kosher Internet provider service that has good filtering built-in, and make a decree that all frum people who chose to have internet should switch to this provider.

  3. I a agree with #2, It hurts to see how a jewish website can let its visitors post filth on other jews. No matter who they are if its a simple jew or a Rebbe from Eretz Yisroel.

  4. How many frum people are not out of parnossah because of the closure of the sites? how many families will have to now look for support?

  5. A filter isn’t good because it filters out important places too. A monitering service would be better. Everyplace a person goes on the Internet is public; it’s monitered and public information.Most people don’t want to ruin their reputation and they themselves will limit where they go.

  6. Whatever ‘victory’ this group of kannoim can claim from this, will be infintesmal compared to the war they are so badly losing.

    The internet is here to stay and there is nothing they can do to stop people from using it.

  7. Those would all be reasonable suggestions if this wasn’t just a ploy to steal the advertising revenue of the websites and funnel it to the newspapers.

  8. i see time after time that poeple who dont live in israel do NOT understand what the rabbis want. this ban will not resurface in the USA but in israel the rabbis are right.

  9. I love when people write comments like “let them stop all cell phones bec. they run on internet” or how about “Those would all be reasonable suggestions if this wasn’t just a ploy to steal the advertising revenue of the websites and funnel it to the newspapers.”or “Thai should ban cash and phones and other thing thy one could some thing not good”
    For such people a wise man once said “Better to remain silent and let people think you are a fool, then to speak up and remove all doubt.”

  10. Thise concerned their child will succumb to temptations on the internet perhaps they can suggest signing up to Kleen Web or Kosher Net or in Israel, Rimon.

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