A magistrate's court judge from central Israel who is suspected of physically abusing his two children has agreed to take a paid furlough, according to an announcement Thursday issued by the court spokeswoman.

"Given his position and the circumstances," spokeswoman Ayelet Filo said, "the judge in question has decided that it would be fitting for him to take a vacation."

On Wednesday, Israel Radio reported that allegations against the judge went uninvestigated for about three years because the attorney general would not approve a probe.

According to the report, in 2010 welfare authorities, acting on information from officials at the children’s school, filed a police complaint alleging that the judge beat his children over an extended period of time. Police began investigating the allegations but without questioning the suspect, since by law a judge cannot be questioned by police without the attorney general’s approval.

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, a human rights and good government advocacy organization, Wednesday morning asked the Supreme Court and the Courts Administration to suspend the judge immediately. “Any citizen going to court knowing that a judge who is suspected of beating his children is himself sitting in judgment over a suspected child-beater cannot have the slightest trust in the judicial system,” the forum’s director general, Nachi Eyal, wrote, adding that the honor of the country’s judges as well as the public’s faith in the legal system was hanging in the balance.

Weinstein said last night that while he was informed about the allegations against the judge two years ago, he had asked for further investigation before deciding whether to order the judge to be questioned under caution.

Two weeks earlier the forum had asked Supreme Court President Asher Grunis to see to the removal from the bench of unworthy judges who were permitted to remain on the job solely in order to protect their pension rights. Grunis told the organization that disqualification by the Judicial Appointments Committee was an extraordinary measure that should be reserved for extreme situations.

Eyal wrote back to Grunis, telling him: “A judge who beats his children is an extraordinary case that should be handled with the arrest of the judge and his suspension until the matter is settled.”

The Courts Administration said in response that the judge’s investigation was not reported to the heads of the legal establishment until Wednesday and that the president of the Supreme Court was now making inquiries on the matter.

Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen confirmed in a statement that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein did not approve a police interview of the judge when the allegations were first reported, and that the attorney general had asked for information about the current situation in the judge’s home “in order to insure that the damage caused by questioning would not exceed its benefit.” Cohen added that the additional information was submitted to the Justice Ministry late last week and was being examined.