A former Israeli Health Minister is set to be prosecuted for interfering in the Malka Leifer case by attempting to prevent her extradition to Australia.
Ms Leifer, 54, fronted the Melbourne Magistrates Court earlier this month and is facing 74 charges of child sex abuse, including multiple counts of rape, indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child.
She is accused of abusing three sisters – Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper – during her time as headmistress of Adass Israel School in Elsternwick between 2001 and 2008.
Israeli media is now reporting the former health minister Yaakov Litzman will be prosecuted for trying to prevent Ms Leifer from being extradited to Australia to face justice.
The Israeli police fraud unit has been investigating Mr Litzman for several months after it was alleged he pressured psychiatrists to state Ms Leifer was unfit to stand trial in Australia while the extradition case was ongoing.
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Larry Noodles has posted extensively on the Rabbi Daniel Greer case. He may be one of the foremost authorities on that subject and one of the major figures instrumental in the Greer conviction and in the corresponding civil suit victories.
The child who was abused by Greer may have Noodles to thank, at least in some small part, for the justice he sought and won. It is our hope that by publicizing this case, Rabbi Daniel Greer will be swiftly returned to prison to spend the remainder of his sentence behind bars and NOT in home-confinement, where he has been since Covid-19 provided him an excuse for release.
The child that he abused has a lifetime enchained by memories. Twelve years of Greer’s life is but a small piece of a life spent. Having said all of that, we must pose this question to our readers. Where are the Religious Leaders who should be speaking out. They should be acknowledging the tragedy in their midst. They should be expressing the shame and horror of the Greer case. They should be supporting victims. Instead… crickets. That, in and of itself, is a tragedy.
The United States Supreme Court declined to hear “Rabbi” Daniel Greer’s appeal of the $21 million civil verdict entered against him almost three years ago in Federal Court. Greer filed a petition for certification before the Supreme Court after he had lost on appeal at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Greer’s attorneys argued on appeal that the verdict was “excessive” and “shocking” and should either be completely set aside or reduced. The Second Circuit held the following: “The amount of compensatory damages is undoubtedly high, but we are not persuaded that a new trial or remittitur (reduction) is warranted under Connecticut law. The award here is not excessive when compared to the awards in the cases cited above. Here, the record indicates that EM suffered repeated abuse for approximately three years, from the time he was fourteen until he was seventeen years old. At certain points, EM was abused for hours at a time, on a weekly basis. The first time Greer abused EM, he plied EM with alcohol, pretended to care about EM and his family, acknowledged EM’s parents’ financial struggles, and then kissed him. Eventually the abuse included oral sex, anal sex, mutual masturbation, and watching pornography together — while EM was a sophomore, junior, and senior in high school and Greer was a 60-something year old man.”
The New Haven Police arrested Greer a few months after the civil verdict of $20 million entered in the child rape case. If Greer had won the civil case I don’t believe that the State’s Attorneys Office would have filed the criminal case. If Greer had offered the victim a settlement, long before the civil case was filed, a civil case would have never been filed.
Greer’s attorneys also argued on appeal that the trial judge’s jury instructions pertaining to Greer’s refusal to answer questions based on his right against self incrimination was improper. The trial judge instructed the jury that they could make negative inferences against Greer due to his failure to answer difficult questions on cross examination. The Second Circuit listed the questions Greer refused to answer: Greer refused to answer whether he “sexually abused and assaulted other minors including Avi Hack” whether he “taught religious and secular studies, communal service, ethics, theology and Jewish history,” whether he “forced EM to have sex with him when he was a child at various locations in New Haven apartments he owned,” whether “he had molested EM in Greer’s bedroom” whether he “had sex with EM at a motel in Branford” whether he “forced EM to have sex with him at a motel in Paoli” whether he forced EM to have sex with him when EM was a child at a hotel in Philadelphia,” whether he “had sex with EM when he was a child at land in Hamden…”
Greer was sentenced to 20 years of incarceration suspended after 12 after he was convicted of child molestation. Greer is currently on home confinement, after he was recently released due to COVID19 in the prisons. Greer’s case will be reviewed again on February 1, by Judge Alander. Greer may or may not go back to jail. Eventually Greer will have to go to jail and spend 12 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Greer has already registered as a sex offender. Greer is allowed to leave his abode in order to go to doctor appointments and appointments with his attorney. A local recently told me that she saw Greer driving around in his minivan in his Edgewood neighborhood. Greer used to be known as the “Mayor of Edgewood.” Greer is now known as “The Pedophile of Edgewood.”
Greer was tried and incarcerated just before the pandemic. Greer has been in and out of prison ever since, due to issues in the prison related to the pandemic, and Greer’s age. Greer is 80 years old. At one point Greer’s son Ezi Greer drove his father to the Superior Court to turn him in to the Marshal. I was there and took pictures. I was shocked that Ezi drove his father to the prison. During the civil trial an expert testified that he had evidence that Ezi was molested by his father. Ezi Greer was active in politics in New Haven for many years, along with his brother Rabbi Dov Greer. Dov, Ezi and Avi Hack also helped run Greer’s yeshiva, where EM was enrolled. Avi Hack was also molested by Greer. Avi, Dov and Ezi protected Daniel Greer for years while Greer attracted minors to his yeshiva for the purposes of rape and abuse. After “Rabbi” Greer was sued Dov moved to Long Island, Ezi moved to Waterbury, and Avi moved to Providence RI. Avi’s father Harold Hack, who also protected Greer for year, also moved to Waterbury. Greer got Harold a job at the City of New Haven. Harold’s daughter is married to Ezi Greer.
Ezi, Avi, Dov and Harold refused to testify against Greer at Greer’s civil and criminal trials. I contacted numerous potential witnesses to testify against Greer in the criminal trial. A few showed up and testified against Greer. One testified that he was a classmate of EM at the high school and that he suspected that EM was being molested by Greer at the time he was in school. Another testified that Greer tried to molest him. A few others wanted to testify but found it too emotionally painful to show up in court and testify. I was surprised that EM had the strength to testify at the civil trial and the criminal trial. Greer’s lawyer William Ward mercilessly attacked EM at the civil trial, yelling at him calling him a “LIAR” and a “THIEF.” Greer’s lawyer Willie the Dow at the criminal trial was more respectful and didn’t yell and scream at the victim. The Dow probably learned from Ward’s mistake, attacking the victim, victim blaming, did not work out very well for Ward.
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A Jewish charity will offer chaplaincy services to alleged paedophile Malka Leifer when she returns to Australia, a decision that has angered some members of the religious community.
The Age has confirmed Ms Leifer will be offered support from the charity Jewish Prison Chaplaincy Victoria, a group contracted by Corrections Victoria to assist every Jewish person in the state’s system and support prisoners “to observe and grow while in prison”.
Corrections Victoria appointed the chaplain, independent of the organisation.
The charity’s role is controversial because it is led by Benjamin Koppel, the president of the Adass Israel Congregation, part of a small ultra-orthodox group of about 150 families based in Elsternwick and Ripponlea where Ms Leifer worked.
Mr Koppel was president of the Adass Israel Congregation when Ms Leifer left Australia in 2008, 24 hours after she was accused of sexually molesting some of the students and sacked by the board.
He [Mr. Koppel] was questioned in the Supreme Court in 2015 about the decision to hire Ms Leifer amid allegations she travelled to Israel with the assistance of the Adass board. However, there is no evidence or allegations to suggest Mr Koppel helped Ms Leifer, or knew about plans to help her leave for Israel.
Malka Leifer, who fled to Israel, faces 74 counts of sexual abuse related to her tenure as a principal at a Jewish girls’ school in Melbourne.
JERUSALEM — An Israeli woman accused of sexually abusing students at an Australian school where she was the principal has been extradited from Israel, according to reports in the Israeli news media, concluding a seven-year deportation process that had tested relations between the two countries.
Malka Leifer, 54, is accused of 74 counts of rape and sexual abuse that investigators say took place between 2004 and 2008, when she was the principal of a Jewish girls’ school in Melbourne.
Australian officials formally sought her extradition in 2014, but the process was repeatedly delayed after Ms. Leifer’s legal team at the time argued that she was mentally unfit to stand trial.
Photographs published Monday on an Israeli news website, Ynet, showed Ms. Leifer being escorted aboard a plane in Tel Aviv on Sunday night.
Ms. Leifer’s lawyer, Nick Kaufman, said he had not received official confirmation that she had been deported but had been told she would be sent to Australia this week.
Officials at the Israeli foreign and justice ministries, state attorney’s office, police force and prison service declined to comment, as did the Australian attorney-general’s office.
Ms. Leifer, an Israeli citizen, moved in 2001 to Australia, where she later became the principal of Adass Israel, a school for ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls, and then fled to Israel in 2008 after details of the assault allegations emerged.
The sluggish pace of the deportation process drew occasional criticism from Australian lawmakers. The case also embroiled an ultra-Orthodox Israeli government minister from the same sect as Ms. Leifer, Yaakov Litzman, after the Israeli police accused him of pressuring psychiatrists to report that Ms. Leifer was not well enough to be tried.
Malka Leifer this week lost an appeal at Israel’s Supreme Court.(ABC News: Sophie McNeill)
Israel’s Justice Minister said he has signed an extradition order to send former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer back to Australia to face 74 charges of sexual abuse.
Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn said that after a years-long legal saga, it was Israel’s “moral responsibility” to extradite Ms Leifer.
She allegedly fled Australia for Israel in 2008 when she learned the women were planning to file a complaint with police.
Australia lodged an extradition request for Ms Leifer in 2014, but the case has been repeatedly delayed.
In January, a panel of psychiatrists concluded the 54-year-old was faking her mental illness to avoid extradition, which led to the finding in Israel’s District Court.
Ms Leifer maintains her innocence and the six-year legal battle surrounding her extradition has strained relations between Israel and Australia.
Topline: During a Tuesday coronavirus briefing, President Trump offered well-wishes to Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidante who now faces multiple federal charges related to Epstein’s alleged sex ring. In the 1990s and early 2000s, all three traveled in the same social circles, and Maxwell was photographed with the future commander-in-chief multiple times. Here’s every photo of them we could find:
Elsewhere:
A photo of Trump and Maxwell at a “hookers and pimps” themed party was published by the Daily Mail in December 2019. Maxwell sports a blonde wig and a leopard-print trench coat, while Trump wears the same business suit he’s typically seen in.
Another image of Maxwell wearing a green outfit and posing with Trump and an unnamed third woman has been posted multiple times to social media, but it’s unclear when the photo was taken, or where.
Crucial quote
“I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “I just wish her well, frankly.”
Big number:
At least 15 years. In July 2019, and after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump said he hadn’t spoken to the disgraced financier—who he once called “a terrific guy”—for 15 years. “We had a falling out,” Trump told reporters, adding he “was not a fan.”
In 2016 we covered the Newsweek story about the Ultra-Orthodox community and the sexual abuse allegations against a Rabbi at one of the more prestigious schools, Oholei Torah of Brooklyn. At the time, it did not get much coverage beyond Newsweek which ran a comprehensive piece on multiple allegations against the rabbi featured in the story and Oholei Torah.
It should come as no surprise, these stories are tricky to write and the circulation of them gets shut down fairly quickly.
In a lawsuit by an anonymous Plaintiff who had the courage to finally seek justice, a Motion to Dismiss has been filed by Defendant claiming, among other things, that there were insufficient facts pleaded and that Oholai Torah did not have a duty to the Plaintiff such that negligence can be found.
We leave it to the reader to decide for yourself if you could possibly come to the conclusion that the Defendant seeks in its pleadings, namely that a school cannot have a duty of care inferred upon it.
We hope that the judge does not allow the Defendant off this easily. But in Kings County one never knows.
More importantly we ask this: is it plausible to consider that this will be the defense strategy of every institution, religious or otherwise, faced with accusations of failure to provide a safe learning institution such that sexual abuse could occur on its premises?
And, if that is the defense strategy, perhaps parents need to consider this when choosing the institutes of learning for their children. Perhaps parents need to demand contracts get signed in the private school setting wherein the school is paid privately and by virtue of that payment has a duty of care to its students.
“Twelve-year-old Ozer Simon hadn’t grown up Hasidic, but after his parents divorced, his mom became a baal teshuva, a secular Jew who has “returned” to religious ways, and enrolled him at a yeshiva. He immediately fell behind because the other kids had been studying Hebrew since they were toddlers, so when Rabbi Joseph Reizes, a new teacher recently arrived from Brooklyn, offered to tutor the child, his mother jumped at the opportunity.
But when she asked Simon how his first lesson went, she could tell “something was really wrong.” Simon told her the rabbi hadn’t taught him anything; instead, he’d asked the boy to lie down and take a nap. When he did, the older man lay down on top of him. The next school day, Simon’s mother went to Rabbi Avrohom Korf, principal of the boy’s school, and told him what had happened. “I said to him, ‘If Reizes continues to teach here, I’m going to go to the newspaper. Or whatever it takes,'” she recalls. “The next thing I know, the guy is gone.”“
…..
“When contacted by Newsweek, the child whose parents brought the complaint to the school in 1996 didn’t want to speak about it publicly, but other students from that class say Reizes long had a reputation for inappropriate behavior. Bibi Morozow, 31 years old and now living in Florida, says a relative was molested by Reizes while attending Oholei Torah in the 1990s. (When reached by Newsweek on the phone, the relative declined to be interviewed.) “Reizes was always touchy; he’d put kids in his lap,” says one student who asked to remain anonymous because he feared being shunned by his community.“
…..
“Oholei Torah conducts its seven-plus daily hours of religious lessons mostly in Yiddish. According to more than a dozen former students across three decades, it provides almost no lessons in science, math, English grammar or history. (The school did not respond to queries about its curriculum.) Many of these students go home to an apartment with no television, no Internet, no newspapers and no books except religious texts. Many will not gain the basic knowledge of how to navigate the world until they are married off around age 18, like how to write a check, how to order General Tso’s chicken or even what sex is. When you’re a child in this environment, you don’t question the fact that you can’t identify your own state on a map. And when you are molested, you don’t ask questions about that either.“
LOSTMESSIAH 