JERUSALEM – An Israeli woman accused of sexually abusing students at an Australian school where she was the principal was extradited from Israel, according to Israeli media reports, concluding a seven-year deportation process that tested relations between the two countries.
Malka Leifer, 54, is charged with 74 charges of rape and sexual abuse that, according to investigators, occurred between 2004 and 2008, when she was the director of a school for Jewish girls in Melbourne.
Australian authorities formally sought her extradition in 2014, but the process was delayed several times after Ms. Leifer’s legal team argued that she was mentally incapable of prosecution.
Photographs published on Monday on an Israeli news site, Ynet, showed Leifer being escorted aboard an airplane in Tel Aviv on Sunday night.
Leifer’s lawyer, Nick Kaufman, said he had not received official confirmation that she had been deported, but was told that she would be sent to Australia this week.
Officials in the Israeli foreign and justice ministries, the prosecutor’s office, the police force and the prison service declined to comment, as did the Australian attorney general.
Leifer, an Israeli citizen, moved to Australia in 2001, where she later became director of Adass Israel, a school for ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls, and then fled to Israel in 2008 after details of the allegations of aggression emerged.
The slow pace of the deportation process has drawn occasional criticism from Australian lawmakers. The case also involved an ultra-Orthodox Israeli government minister from the same sect as Leifer, Yaakov Litzman, after Israeli police accused him of pressuring psychiatrists to report that Leifer was not well enough to stand trial.
The case focuses on the allegations of three sisters – Dassi Erlich, Elly Sapper and Nicole Meyer – who say they were abused by Ms. Leifer during her tenure as a school principal.
Meyer declined to comment on Monday about Leifer’s extradition. But advocacy groups for victims and people close to the three sisters who spoke publicly about their abuse said they were very happy with the news that Leifer was on her way to Australia.
“They didn’t believe that day would come,” said Manny Waks, an abuse survivor and chief executive of VoiCSA, a group that combats child sexual abuse in the Jewish community.
“I know that they are absolutely excited about the news and are looking forward to their day in court and holding Leifer completely accountable,” said Waks.
Ms. Leifer’s trial is unlikely to happen in 2021 because of the logistical challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Kaufman.
After arriving in Australia, she must appear by video link to a judge who will formally confirm her identity and read the charges, Kaufman said.
“We hope that she will be kept in a place of detention that respects her religious beliefs and allows for regular contact with her lawyers and family,” said Kaufman.
Kaufman also said that publishing photos of Leifer’s extradition undermined his dignity.
The Australian attorney general’s office said in a statement that the government was aware of reports of Leifer’s extradition, but could not comment on the process until she formally completed the extradition process.
“Both the attorney general and the foreign minister expressed their thanks to the Israeli government for their assistance and cooperation in bringing this long process to a conclusion,” added the statement.
Officials from the German police force and the Frankfurt airport, where Leifer was reportedly transferred on a flight to Australia, said they could not confirm whether she was in transit.
Patrick Kingsley reported from Jerusalem and Livia Albeck-Ripka from Melbourne. Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Jerusalem.