Malka Leifer saga far from over – analysis

At most, Monday’s decision by the Jerusalem District Court to extradite alleged sex offender Malka Leifer to Australia can be viewed as the beginning of the end of the saga, but not the end itself.Leifer will not be extradited for at least several months, and if the case is not expedited, her extradition could take more than a year.There still are three roadblocks that can slow her extradition if she exploits every defense procedure as expected.First, Leifer can appeal the extradition to the Supreme Court. She already sat before the Supreme Court once in July to appeal the lower court’s decision that found her mentally fit for extradition on 74 counts of sexual abuse and rape of minors.But that decision was only on the important but narrow issue of competency. It did not take into account all details that led to the Jerusalem District Court’s final extradition decision on Monday.After that, Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn must sign her extradition order. He is expected to expedite that process. But expediting could mean weeks or a couple of months, as Nissenkorn and his staff still have an obligation to review all of the case’s parameters.Finally, Leifer can appeal Nissenkorn’s decision in the Supreme Court again, this time sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice.The idea behind this being a separate appeal is that the High Court is not just reviewing whether the extradition case was proven in court. Rather, it is whether there are other improper political considerations at work that are being abused to extradite someone or whether the receiving country will act properly.The good news is that since the district court held in May that Leifer was mentally fit for extradition, the entire appeal of that issue to the Supreme Court as well as the final ruling only took around four months.If the Supreme Court and Nissenkorn move at a similar “rapid” (in legal terms) pace, she could be extradited in less than half a year or even faster.In May, after a nearly six-year legal saga, Jerusalem District Court Judge Chana Miriam Lomp ruled that Leifer was mentally fit to stand trial on 74 counts of sexual abuse and rape of minors.But that is only the case’s recent history.Leifer has claimed mental illness since extradition proceedings were initiated in 2014. That means very little happened for more than five years.It would seem that Leifer no longer has the help of various political forces, such as United Torah Judaism chairman Ya’acov Litzman, to draw things out.In that case, the next stages may move fast. But when it comes to the Leifer case, which has been unconscionably delayed repeatedly, it is hard to feel confident about time as long as procedural roadblocks to extradition remain.The potential good news is that the extradition ruling and the likely future extradition can start to heal some wounds between Israel and Australia.At various points, the delay in the extradition has been so long that this singular issue has negatively impacted other aspects of a normally strong relationship.While Monday’s ruling is only the beginning of the end of the saga, it may already have sent a clear enough signal to Australia of where things are going to lay past tensions to rest.
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