Israel’s justice minister has signed a appeasement order for Malka Leifer, backing the government’s ten-year effort by child abuse prosecutors accused of taking her back to Melbourne.
“I have now signed Malka Leifer’s appeasement order to Australia,” Avi Nissenkorn wrote. Twitter. “After many years, after an embarrassing attempt to present itself as a mental illness, and as a result of the high court ruling, it is our moral duty to allow Leifer to go to court.”
The news came just days after the Israeli high court rejected a claim by Leifer to block its extension, ending a legal saga that has tested Israeli-Australian relations.
Nissenkorn had previously said he would sign the order “without delay”. Israel has come under pressure to show that it is taking the case seriously after it adjourned to courts, including more than 70 hearings, and calls for intervention at the the highest levels of government.
The order means Leifer could be back in Australia within the next two months. While she was able to challenge the move in court, all of her previous legal challenges have failed.
One of Leifer’s top lawyers said she would not try to block the appeasement order.
“Ms Leifer will not seek a legal review of this administrative act,” Nick Kaufman said in a statement.
However, he criticized the justice minister for his “quick signature”.
“The Minister of Justice intended to exercise his discretion in a deliberate manner after hearing applications from the defense and not heavily in a fiery attempt to appeal to a popular sentiment,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman said his client, if convicted in Australia, would try to serve any prison term in Israel.
Leifer, 52, accused of sexually assaulting female students during her time as principal of Adass Israel ultra-orthodox school in southeast Melbourne. Her legal team has denied the allegations.
An Israeli citizen has been charged with causing mental illness to avoid eviction. The Israeli high court earlier this year upheld a district court decision that she was fit to go to court.
Meanwhile, former health minister Ya’acov Litzman, who hails from the same region of ultra-direct Judaism, has denied allegations that he obstructed the case. Litzman has denied any crime.
After the allegations were leveled against Leifer in Australia, she traveled to Israel in 2008. Australian police filed an extension request in 2014.
Australian Attorney General Christian Porter said on Thursday that the allegations against Leifer were serious.
“Ms Leifer is being asked to go to court in Victoria on 74 counts of child sexual abuse,” Porter said in a statement. . After many years, it now seems almost a reality. “
Ministers said that while there are still legal measures that could be open to Ms Leifer’s legal team in Israel, they were reassured by reports that they would not challenge the extension order. However, it is important that it is formally tested.
Porter and foreign minister Marise Payne once said that all processes in Israel were concerned that the two countries would work together to arrange Leifer’s surrender to the Australian authorities for her return. to Melbourne. “Compliance is required within 60 days of the conclusion of all Israeli formal proceedings,” the pair said in a joint statement.