Andrews ask Netanyahu to review the Leifer case
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews took an opportunity during his recent visit to Israel to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to review the current process to extradite Malka Leifer wanted in Victoria on 74 charges for sexual abuse.
Malka Leifer
Leifer had been the principal the ultra-orthdox girl’s school run by Adass Yisroel.
Shortly before the charges could be laid in 2008, Leifer fled to Israel where she was found by psychiatrists found her unable to face an extradition trial in the Israeli court.
An Israeli court ended her home detention in June after a psychiatrist found she was not mentally fit to face an extradition trial until she completes treatment, which could go on for years.
Daniel Andrews told media i Melbourne: “I don’t want to prejudge a process, but that individual should be sent back here to face those who have accused her,”
“The prime minister concluded that he would have a fresh look at it and he would do so without bias.
“I’m very confident that is exactly what will happen and we’ll wait and see whether that leads to her being sent back to Australia.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull brought up the case when he visited Israel for the 100th anniversary of the Light Horse charge at Beersheba at end of October.
Premier Andrews wrote to Leifer survivor Dassi Ehrlich saying: “Your story has been widely documented, and rightly so…it is clear that you continue to face a major injustice.”
I raised directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu that it is the view of the Victorian Government that Malka Leifer should be returned to Australia to face trial.
The Prime Minister suggested that he would have a fresh look at the case without bias.”
He thanked Dassi for speaking on behalf “of those who cannot”.
I do hope Prime Minister Netanyahu does relook at the case against Malka Leifer ‘without bias’, because the fact that she is Israeli and Jewish should have nothing to do with her not having to face due process for her alleged actions in Australia.
I’ve always respected the Israeli court system and can only assume that the court decision made, on the strength of psychiatric reports, was made strictly within the legal framework they would have to resort to in their analysis. Sometimes the law has cracks that justice falls through. It goes without saying that someone charged with the kinds of offences Leifer faces, might indeed be mentally affected by anxiety and fear in relation to it. So that’s no excuse for not extraditing her. It’s not really good enough that she could face psychological treatment for years before being considered well enough to face the damage she’s alleged to have done. There are a multitude of people walking around cities in the world sick enough to perpetrate evils but well enough to live and work in day to day society. At some point they need to be brought to account for the sake of their victims, and even for their own sake. If Leifer is well enough not to be hospitalised, then she should be well enough to be extradited.