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Image posted, AFP
Lever was charged with sexual assault on minors while she was a teacher and director of a Jewish school in Melbourne, Australia.
Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that Malka Lever, a former head of a Melbourne Jewish school accused of sexually assaulting minors, can be extradited to Australia.
Lever’s high-profile case lasted six years and strained relations between the two countries.
Israeli Justice Minister Avi Nissan-Korn has not yet approved her deportation, but has indicated that he prefers to extradite her to Australia to stand trial.
The Supreme Court had rejected a petition by Lever against the decision to extradite her to Australia.
The court ruling published by the Israeli Ministry of Justice stated that “with the issuance of our ruling, all the allegations were closed and the extradition declaration became permanently enforceable.”
Lever was charged with sexual assault on minors while she was a teacher and director of a Jewish school in Melbourne, where she immigrated from her native Israel.
According to Australian media, Lever faces 74 counts of sexual assault against minors.
Lever fled with her family to Israel after accusations were brought against her in Australia in 2008, and they lived in the Emmanuel settlement in the occupied West Bank.
The court referred to the years in which the Australian defendants’ extradition request had stalled, saying in its ruling: “It has been more than six years since an application was filed in the Jerusalem District Court. for the extradition of the appeal applicant to Australia “.
He added that since then, “there is no measure that the appellant has not taken” to avoid his extradition.
The court said that the extradition agreements signed by Israel “must be respected and anyone seeking to escape justice will find no refuge in Israel.”
