Australian Jewish community leaders on Sunday condemned the promotion of United Torah Judaism (UTJ) leader, Yaakov Litzman, to Health Minister after police recommended indicting Litzman for aiding Malka Leifer, an alleged Australian sex offender, to escape extradition to Australia to stand trial there.
By: Arye Green
Litzman has been serving as Deputy Health Minister for several years, and was promoted to the position of Health Minister after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had previously held the position, was forced to step down after being indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler published an open letter to Netanyahu in which he called Litzman’s appointment “a slap in the face to the Australian Jewish Community, the Australian people, the community of Australians in Israel and most shockingly to the survivors of Malka Leifer’s alleged abuse.”
Leibler said he is proud of Australian Jews’ relationship with Israel, quoting Netanyahu as saying “Israel has no better friend than Australia and Australia has no better friend than Israel.” However, said Leibler, “Friendship must go both ways,” urging Netanyahu to refrain from appointing Litzman.
“On behalf of the Australian Jewish Community, I implore you to reconsider this appointment until investigation into Yaakov Litzman is concluded,” he wrote.
Dassi Erlich, one of Leifer’s alleged victims, said she was “devastated” by Netanyahu’s recommendation to appoint Litzman, an appointment which has since gone into effect.
“The recommendation to appoint Litzman as Health Minister has absolutely devastated and shocked us,” she tweeted.
In August, the police recommended to indict Litzman on accounts of aiding an alleged sex offender, and preventing the closure of a food business despite decisions to shut it down for sanitary reasons.
The first case the police investigated involves Malka Leifer, a former principal of an Ultra-Orthodox girls’ school in Australia, who has been charged in Australia with dozens of cases of child abuse. Leifer fled to Israel in 2008 following allegations that she had sexually abused her students at the Adass Yisroel school in Melbourne on 74 different occasions.
Litzman is suspected of attempting to manipulate Leifer’s psychiatric evaluation to deem her mentally unfit to be extradited to Australia, where she could stand trial.
Litzman allegedly used his clout as Deputy Health Minister and met with psychiatrists who work in the Health Ministry to convince them to change their evaluation according to his wishes. (Tazpit Press Service)