Tel-Chai Nation

At long last, the protracted legal affair caused by the Haredi child molestor Malka Leifer, along with the clan members who were financing her lawyers, has come to an end as she's been extradited back to Australia:

Israeli authorities extradited alleged sex abuser Malka Leifer to Australia early Monday morning, nearly 13 years after she fled Melbourne as allegations against her were coming to light and after a six-year legal process during which a court determined that she had feigned mental illness in order to avoid facing justice.

Not unlike the manner in which the former school principal was ushered out of Melbourne by board members of the Adass Israel Haredi girls’ school in 2008, the Israel Prisons Service operation that transferred her from Neve Tirza women’s prison to Ben Gurion Airport took place in the middle of the night.

Leifer was photographed climbing up a metal staircase onto a plane that will take her to Australia via Frankfurt, Germany.

The extradition was confirmed to The Times of Israel by Leifer’s lawyer Nick Kaufman, as well as by Israeli and Australian officials.

Kaufman lamented the fact that “photographs of [Leifer] being led in handcuffs and legcuffs were leaked to the press,” saying Israeli authorities had been “expected to ensure the secrecy of the date of transfer and to ensure maximum respect for Ms. Leifer’s dignity until she left Israeli jurisdiction.”

Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic of her lawyer to say that. This is somebody who committed an offensive crime against a number of defenseless children, not an innocent lady in a miniskirt being threatened with violence over what clothes she wears. Leifer is not somebody deserving of even the slightest ounce of dignity after all the trouble she caused till the day she was finally air-mailed out of the country. She practically deserves to have the flight take longer, since the plane she was put on is first going to Germany before Australia.

Israeli authorities went through with the extradition even as the government was moving forward with plans to close Ben Gurion Airport almost completely, amid fears over fast-spreading coronavirus variants entering the country. A decision was made to extradite Leifer nonetheless, with Jerusalem evidently recognizing how serious the issue was to Canberra. Senior government officials and prominent Jewish groups there have sharply criticized the drawn-out nature of the proceedings against Leifer, straining the Jewish state’s relations with the country.

Dassi Erlich, who along with her two sisters Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper has accused Leifer of sexually abusing them when they were students at Adass, tweeted that the alleged pedophile was on her way back to Australia.

The Magen advocacy group for child abuse victims released a statement expressing relief that the Israeli chapter in the Leifer case had come to a close after over 70 court dates.

“As a community, we must continue to take a stand and fight for victims of sexual abuse, that the State of Israel not be used as a safe haven for sex offenders, and that this gross manipulation of the justice system may never happen again,” the organization said.

It's very good the authorities understood, above all, that to allow any further delay could lead to further embarrassment Israel doesn't need. If she still remained here at this point, it's always possible her ultra-Orthodox clan could find more ways, legal or otherwise, to sabotage justice ever further. Her clan in particular should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for siding with a repellent felon, and chances are very high they'll continue to do so when the next offender turns up.

Kaufman, the defense attorney, told the Times of Israel last month that he would seek to have Leifer serve any prison service in Israel if she is to be convicted in Australia, citing concerns that the 54-year-old would be unable to observe her religious lifestyle there.

Gee, I wonder why it's such a big deal that somebody who committed such obscene crimes practice a religion they don't respect? It's doubtful she ever read the part in Noah's chapter of the Bible telling how a son of his tried to sexually assault him. Anybody who commits horrific crimes against children doesn't deserve to be observing religious lifestyles, because it's just an excuse to cause difficulty for authorities in containing her properly. If she ends up in a prison population that's hostile to her, she'll deserve it, and she certainly doesn't deserve privileges and exceptions based on belonging to an insular clan. Such considerations must be brought to an end.

Update: here's coverage of the case at The Age.

Update 2: an editorial in the Jerusalem Post makes an important point that Leifer was able to evade extradition as long as she did based on "priviledged status":

The Leifer case is symbolic of a larger problem in Israel. For many years, the country has been a place that suspected criminals fled to, and Israel has been accused of being a safe haven for wanted persons. It is unclear why the country has not taken these cases seriously, and instead basically opens its gates for people who are accused of being predators abroad, to run through and be free here.

The recent case appears to shed light on how the state has often bent itself to appease certain communities, particularly the ultra-Orthodox, who, through political capital, have too many times tried to hide sexual predators. There are simply too many cases of sexual violence in the haredi community that are either covered up or downplayed by political and rabbinic leaders. This has to come to a stop.

I'm sure there's Islamists who've also gotten away with certain offenses, with assistance from the left (who also have certain connections with the ultra-Orthodox when they see advantages). For now, it's definitely offensive whenever Haredi clannists lead to serious problems like these, and serious action must be taken to make it harder for them to do it.

Labels: Australia, germany, haredi corruption, Israel, misogyny, Moonbattery