Israel snub denied in Malka Leifer legal fight

Marise Payne has denied Australian diplomats snubbed Israel ­in protest at the delayed extradition of alleged sex abuser Malka Leifer.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne. Picture: Graham Crouch

Foreign Minister Marise Payne has denied Australian diplomats rebuffed an Israeli ­initiative at the UN in protest at the delayed extradition of alleged Melbourne child sex abuser Malka Leifer.

Reports of the dispute, in which Australian representatives at the UN in Geneva allegedly refused in November to attend an Israeli-led event about preventing child sexual abuse, come as the former school principal is set to appear before Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, an Australian diplomatic source said their delegation refused to attend the Preventing Sexual Abuse of Children — An Educational Toolbox event jointly run by ­Israel, Uruguay and the EU ­because of Leifer’s years-long ­effort to avoid ­extradition.

However, a spokesman for Senator Payne denied there had been a direction given to diplomats to boycott the event. The Israeli ambassador to Australia did not respond to a request for comment.

While Australia is yet to take any official action against Israel over its handling of Leifer’s extradition, a growing chorus of Leifer’s victims and politicians from both sides of politics have called for action.

Liberal MP and former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma and Labor MP Josh Burns announced last week the “Bring Leifer Back” motion they plan to bring before parliament next year, which they ­expect to pass the lower house.

The motion “calls for the ­immediate extradition of Malka Leifer to Australia to face 74 charges of child sexual abuse”, and notes “over five years have elapsed, and over 60 court hearings have been held in Israel, since this extradition request was first lodged”.

Tuesday will be Lefier’s 62nd hearing as part of the process to extradite her to Australia to face 74 charges of rape and sexual harassment of students in her care at the all-girls Adass Israel ultra-orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne. The court will hear the advice from a new psychiatric panel as to whether the 52-year-old is mentally fit to stand trial.