A former principal, Malka Leifer, faced trial on 70 sex offence charges laid by Victoria Police, with accusations from at least eight alleged victims.
[2][3][4][5][6] Leifer, a dual Israeli-Australian citizen,[7] fled under suspicious circumstances shortly before a warrant could be issued, and remained in Israeli-controlled territory from 2008 until January 2021, under varying levels of police and court supervision, pending the resolution of her extradition case.
[4][5] The degree of freedom she enjoyed under Israeli jurisdiction prompted worldwide media coverage and criticism of Israel's judicial system;[9][10] activist Manny Waks described the case as "a farce"[11] and "an embarrassment".
[12] Leifer lived an apparently normal life for some time in the Israeli settlement of Emmanuel in the West Bank, despite a court ruling that she was mentally unfit for proceedings.
[13][14] She was eventually rearrested after media and police scrutiny of her behavior,[9] but continued to evade extradition, with more than 70 court hearings and appeals requested by her legal team, and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A further investigation, into the actions of some members of the Adass Israel community for helping Leifer leave Australia, continued after the Supreme Court judgement.
[22][23] The community's synagogue is in Ripponlea, and its school and chevra kadisha (Jewish funeral society) are located in nearby East St Kilda and Elsternwick.
"[7] On the evening that the allegations came to light, in March 2008, the wife of a school board member rang a travel agent to say a flight to Israel was needed urgently.
[29] In June 2018, Immanuel was cited as a "haven for paedophiles" by The Sydney Morning Herald, which exposed further alleged child sexual abuse there by Leifer, committed "without consequence.
[30][31] As a result of an investigation by Victoria Police, a warrant was issued against Leifer in 2014 for 74 child sex offences concerning at least eight pupils, and an extradition request was placed with Israel.
She subsequently deferred the hearings numerous times, claiming mental health issues, with one judge suggesting that the case could potentially be delayed up to a decade.
[37] Rosenbaum Communications public relations firm owner Ronen Tzur led a strategic smear campaign to block Leifer's extradition.
[40] In 2016, Grossman had also twice appeared before a court in South Africa to negotiate the release from prison of former Shuvu Banim Torah Academy school dean Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who would later confess to rape and assault.
[7][27]: 223 Justice Rush said that, at the time Leifer had fled Australia for Israel, the president of the school board knew of eight additional allegations of sexual abuse of other girls.
[26] Erlich remained in the public eye, campaigning for the return of Leifer and for abuse survivors, including meeting with many community leaders and politicians.
[61] In February 2015, he stepped down from the numerous communal posts he held because of his response to the evidence of the father of a sexual abuse victim at another ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne.
[64] In October 2017, Erlich and two of her sisters went to Israel to campaign for Leifer's extradition, meeting the Minister of Justice, the senior prosecutor in the department of international affairs and members of the Knesset.
[65] The following month Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull met his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, and raised the matter of the delayed extradition with him.
[70] Federally, the extradition of Leifer was a bi-partisan issue, with Mark Dreyfus confirming in 2018 that Labor would continue to press for her to face justice in Australia.
[73] In February 2019, it was revealed that Israel's deputy health minister, Yaakov Litzman, was questioned by police on the suspicion that he had been using his position to prevent Leifer's extradition.
[19] It was alleged that Litzman pressured doctors to falsify psychiatric evaluations that deemed Leifer unfit to stand trial, thereby preventing her extradition.