According to TV report, Deputy Health Minister agrees to relinquish responsibility; Australian government is urged to help victims of child abuse resolve trauma

ATTORNEY GENERAL AVICHAI MANDELBLIT is expected to allow Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman to keep his post, despite the police’s recommendation earlier this month that he be indicted on charges of fraud and breach of trust, Channel 13 reported Saturday.

Progress toward an agreement between Mandelblit and Litzman came after the deputy minister, who heads the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, agreed to relinquish responsibility of the offices within the Health Ministry where he’s been accused of pressuring officials to provide illegal assistance to alleged pedophile Malka Leifer as well as a Haredi delicatessen that he frequented.

These offices include that of the Jerusalem district psychiatrist, whom Litzman is suspected of repeatedly pressuring to produce a legal opinion deeming Leifer unfit for extradition to Australia, where she faces 74 counts of child sex abuse.

FULL STORY AG reportedly to let deputy health minister keep post despite looming charges (Times of Israel)

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Government urged to help victims of child abuse resolve trauma (Sydney Morning Herald)

A victim support group has urged governments to invest heavily in specialist services for child abuse survivors including better training for GPs, counsellors and therapists, estimating changes could save taxpayers billions of dollars.

Manny Waks, an advocate for victims of child sexual abuse, said he only began to address his own trauma “in a serious way” after turning 40, having avoided therapy due to stigma.

“In a closed community like the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, it is seen as meaning you are a weak person or crazy,” he said. “For me it took a crisis situation where I realised I had to take action if I wanted to be able to not only address it, but survive it.”

Photo: Mandelblit (left) and Litzman

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