JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli authorities on Monday extradited a former teacher accused of sexually abusing her former students in Australia, with the aim of a six-year legal battle that would hamper relations between the two governments drove and overturned the Jewish community in Australia.
Malka Leifer, who is wanted on 74 charges of child sexual abuse in Australia, was put on a flight early in the day, hours before Israel would close its international airport to almost all air traffic due to a raging coronavirus outbreak. Israeli media photographed Leifer boarding a plane at Ben Gurion Airport, handcuffing her ankles and wrists. Her lawyer, Nick Kaufman, confirmed the extradition.
Leifer, a former teacher accused of sexually abusing several former students at a Jewish school in Melbourne, has been fighting extradition since 2014. Leifer has maintained her innocence and the lengthy court case and repeated delays over her extradition have drawn criticism from Australian officials elicited, as well as the country’s Jewish leaders.
The Hebrew news website Ynet reported that Leifer had boarded a flight to Frankfurt, where she was to go to another flight to Australia.
Three sisters – Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper – accused Leifer of abusing them when they were students at an ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne. It is said that there are other victims. The Associated Press does not usually identify alleged victims of sexual abuse, but the sisters have spoken publicly about their allegations against Leifer.
“This is an amazing day for justice!” says Manny Waks, head of Voice Against Child Sex Abuse, an organization representing Leifer’s victims. “We can now really look forward to Leifer standing trial in Australia on the 74 charges she is facing,” he said.
Erlich simply wrote on her Facebook page: “Leifer is on the plane to Australia.”
As accusations against her began to appear in 2008, Leifer left the Israeli-born school and returned to Israel, where she has lived ever since. Critics, including Leifer’s alleged victims, have accused the Israeli authorities of dragging out the case for too long, while Leifer claims she is mentally unfit to stand trial.
Israeli police also recommended charges of fraud and breach of trust against former health minister Yaakov Litzman on suspicion of putting pressure on ministry staff to turn Leifer’s psychiatric evaluation in her favor. Litzman, a powerful ultra-Orthodox politician, denies misconduct.
Last year, an Israeli psychiatric panel determined that Leifer was lying about her mental state and set the extradition in motion. In December, the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal against her extradition, and the Israeli justice minister signed the order to send her to Australia.
Details of Leifer’s connecting flight to Australia were not immediately available.
Late Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved that almost all incoming and outgoing air traffic should close strictly from midnight to January 31st. The government said it would make exceptions for a small number of humanitarian cases – such as funerals and medical patients – and cargo flights. The Israeli Ministry of Health has recorded more than 600,000 cases of coronavirus and 4,419 deaths since the start of the pandemic last year.
Avi Nissenkorn, Israel’s former justice minister who signed the extradition order, wrote on Twitter: “I promised not to obstruct the extradition order, and that’s what I did. Malka Leifer’s victims will ultimately deserve an act of justice. ”