Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Google Ordered To Name Defamers of Scrutinized London Rabbi

A British judge reportedly ordered Google to help identify people who may have defamed a London rabbi accused of inappropriate conduct toward women.

Justice Elizabeth Gloster of Britain’s High Court in London ordered the American Internet company to identify the authors of online comments said to have defamed Rabbi Chaim Halpern, the Jewish Chronicle reported on Friday.

The rabbi denies claims of inappropriate conduct, which are currently being investigated by a special rabbinical court set up at the behest of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations. Chloe Strong, Halpern’s attorney, said that the comments contained “serious defamatory slurs.”

Google, the judge said, needs to disclose the names of several people who have posted comments about Halpern under pseudonyms.

Gloster said that, since the rabbi denied the allegations, those making comments about him “should not … be entitled to hide behind the shield of anonymity.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.