Australia-Israel group calls for Israel’s deputy health minister to step down over allegations of tampering with witnesses

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Australian Israel Jewish Affairs Council has called on Israel’s deputy health minister to step down after police recommended he face indictment for allegedly interfering in the extradition case of Malka Leifer.

Yaakov Litzman is accused of pressuring psychiatrists to alter the conclusions of their reports about the former Melbourne school principal so a court would find her mentally unfit to stand trial over child sexual abuse charges, the Times of Israel reported.

Leifer was the head of Melbourne’s ultra-orthodox Adass Israel school and faces 74 charges of sexual assault of female students.

Malka Leifer: how the alleged abuser's trial became entangled in Israeli politics Read more

She returned to Israel in 2008 after the sexual offence allegations emerged.

The Israeli police say they have enough evidence for an indictment of Litzman for tampering with witnesses.

“With the end of this investigation the Israeli police’s position is that there is enough alleged evidence against deputy minister of health Yaakov Litzman of offences of fraud, breach of trust, and impeachment in testimony in the [Leifer] extradition case,” the statement said.

The investigation allegedly found that psychiatrists feared they would be fired if they did not follow the orders of Litzman, who is also chairman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.

The executive director of the Australian Israel Jewish Affairs Council, Colin Rubenstein, said: “AIJAC welcomes this latest development and trusts it will lead to Leifer’s swift extradition back to Australia to face justice.”

In February, Israeli police opened an investigation into whether Litzman had obstructed the trial.

Litzman is a member of the same religious denomination as Leifer and leads a Jewish ultra-Orthodox party.

Litzman’s office denied any wrongdoing and said he had worked “in favour of the citizens of Israel in total transparency and according to the law”.

“We are sure without a doubt that after a close examination it will be revealed that his actions were flawless,” the statement said.

Israel’s attorney general will make the decision on whether to indict Litzman.

Leifer’s case, which has gone through more than 50 hearings, is still being considered by a Jerusalem court.