JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said he spoke Wednesday with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, following an Israeli court ruling that a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her students in Australia was fit to stand trial and be extradited.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Rivlin noted that the matter was central to his state visit to Australia in February and that he had promised Morrison and Australia’s pro-Israel Jewish community he would monitor the case closely.
“Israel will not allow anyone to use its institutions to evade justice,” Rivlin said, adding that Tuesday’s court ruling proved that.
The court ruled that Malka Leifer was faking a mental illness to avoid prosecution. It set a July 20 extradition hearing.
Leifer’s accusers say she abused them while they were students at an ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne. In 2008, as allegations surfaced, the Israeli-born Leifer — a trusted educator in an insular religious community — left her position at the school suddenly and returned to Israel, where she has lived since.
Australia requested Leifer’s extradition in 2014 on 74 charges of child sex abuse and more than 60 Israeli court hearings have followed. The prolonged proceedings have raised concerns that Israeli authorities of dragging out the case for far too long.
Critics say the legal proceedings have been marred by needless delays by Leifer’s legal team. Israeli police also have recommended charges of fraud and breach of trust be brought against former Health Minister Yaakov Litzman for suspicions he pressured ministry employees to skew Leifer’s psychiatric evaluations in her favor. Litzman, a powerful ultra-Orthodox politician, denies wrongdoing.
I suppose the President apologized. I would.
She should have been kicked out a long time ago. Over the years, there were other Jews who were deported and extradited from Israel for far less serious offenses. One esteemed commentator on this site yesterday had the gall to state that “we don’t know all of the facts”. How many girls have to complain that they were molested by this pervert (100, 200, 300), before they are credible, in his opinion?
diplomatic strain? I doubt it
Time to bring Mondrowitz home.
Malka Leifer is entitled to her day in court and to defend herself. I suspect she will not have it easy to defend against her accusers,but we’LL SEE SOON. However ,Lizman must similarly be brought to trial for his alleged criminal coercion of psychiatrists to lie on behalf of Malka Leifer’s defense. For this Lizman should be tried in criminal court.
complaining is not enough. they need proof, and if they have then she should be locked up for a long time. but first they havto bring proof
Why don’t they just lock her up in Israel. No Jew should be handed over to the goyim. So many cases that involved members of meir kahanes JDL were sent to non jewish countries to prison. One was a guy who killed a Nazi in America who had murdered thousands of Jews. They sent him back to America. Another was sent to France for killing an Arab terrorist in France.
What business is this of Mr. Rivlin? These are ongoing legal proceedings that are supposed to be independent, not to be decided at the whim of the current President. There has not been an extradition hearing, the decision at which is subject to appeal, there has been no decision by the Justice Minister but Rivlin talks as though everything has been stitched up. The fact that a Court has decided that today Mrs. Leifer is fit to be extradited does not mean that it is reasonable to extradite her, that is what the judicial process will seek to establish. And as to “the legal proceedings have been marred by needless delays by Leifer’s legal team”, what sort of nonsense is that? Have all the Judges who presided at the 60 Israeli Court hearings been so swayed that none of them has been able to reach a view different from the rabble seeking to lynch Mrs. Leifer? And what are “needless delays”? The job of Mrs. Leifer’s legal team was to put forward everything possible in her favor to avoid a kangaroo Court hearing. Still don’t worry, a few vociferous young women and their supporters are determined to have this superb Jewish educator locked away.
lock her up in israel finished
“Chinka
May 28, 2020 11:52 am at 11:52 am
How can there be proof? I do think she’s guilty but I can’t see how it can be proven in court. It’s their WORD against hers”
It never ceases to amaze me when the argument of “there’s no proof, just one’s (or many’s) word(s) against word.” The vast majority of arrests & convictions are based on the complaintant’s (victim’s) sole complaint about the perp’s acts & ID.
What about the Testimony here (especially by multiple victims with no real agenda [there certainly wouldn’t be enough $ for Ms. Mondrowitz’s many alleged victims] which is VERY POWERFUL PROOF? 90% of all people in prison rely on the testimony of the victim; with zero corroborating “proof” (and most of the balance are partial admisssions (or full fledged confessions). Is Chynka referring to the Torah Standard of 2 kosher Eidim (i.e. only men who were there, and observed the acts complained of as they were occurring!)? And of course “Ein udim meisim ahtzmoi rusha” would mean that confessions would be inadmissible!
obviously under both Israeli law & Australian law, the testimony of the multiple victims (assuming that the testimony exists and is credible) would be overwhelming, and more than legally sufficient to convict.