Malka Leifer can be extradited to Australia on child sexual abuse charges, Israeli court rules

An Israeli court has ruled that accused child sex abuser Malka Leifer can be extradited to Australia, the latest judgment in a saga that has dragged on for more than a decade.

Leifer, 52, is accused of sexually assaulting female students during her time as principal of the ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel school in Melbourne’s south-east. Victorian police have charged her with 74 offences.

Wearing a red mask covering much of her face and appearing in the Jerusalem district court on Monday via video link from prison, Leifer lowered her gaze as the brief decision was read out.

Dassi Erlich, one of three Australian sisters who have accused Leifer of abuse, called the decision a “victory for all survivors”.

“Exhaling years of holding our breath!” she wrote on Twitter. “We truly value every person standing with us in our refusal to remain silent! Today our hearts are smiling!”

After the allegations against Leifer were made, she went to Israel in 2008, and an extradition request was lodged in 2014. Leifer has denied the charges.

Leifer appealed against her extradition on the grounds she was mentally unwell, but earlier this month Israel’s supreme court rejected an appeal against the district court decision that she was fit to face trial.

Following the supreme court’s ruling, Leifer’s accusers had believed Judge Chana Miriam Lomp would rule in favour of extradition. Leifer, an Israeli citizen, is expected to seek leave for another supreme court appeal following the decision.

Before she can be sent back to Australia, Israel’s minister of justice must also sign off on the extradition.

Australian Labor MP Josh Burns, whose electorate of Macnamara includes the Adass Israel School, said “finally, justice has won the day” and called on the Israeli courts and government to move ahead “without any further delays”.

There have been more than 70 court hearings related to the case, which has strained diplomatic relations between Israel and Australia.

As well as accusations of interference in the case from a former health minister, Ya’acov Litzman, who comes from the same sect of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, Leifer has been accused of faking mental illness to avoid extradition. Litzman has denied any wrongdoing.

Manny Waks, a victim of child sexual abuse and advocate for other Jewish victims, was in court for Monday’s verdict and said it was “Israel’s shame” that the case has taken so long and been marred by repeated controversy.

“I have personally attended most of these hearings and experienced firsthand how unfair the Israeli judicial process has been and the avoidable toll this has taken on Leifer’s alleged victims,” he said following the verdict.

“But today is finally about a just outcome … We hope and trust that any remaining processes will be dealt with quickly so that we may see Leifer back in Australia in 2020.”