President Reuven Rivlin's meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Canberra on Wednesday was overshadowed by the ongoing efforts of the Australian government to extradite a former Melbourne principal who fled to Israel to escape accusations of sexually abusing her young female students.
Morrison and Rivlin discussed their "strong commitment to seeing justice" in the case of Malka Leifer during their meeting at Parliament House, officials said.
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President Reuven Rivlin with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison
(Photo: Kobi Gideon)
“I am delighted to welcome you here,” said Morrison as he greeted Rivlin.
“This is a great honor, not only because of your current position but because of your work in the Knesset over the years and your contribution in many other fields. We have many things to discuss today, and I am looking forward to our meeting," he said.
"Australia is happy to stand with Israel in the international arena and the diplomatic relations between the countries are no less important than the relations between the peoples, which are excellent and will remain so.”
Leifer has been fighting extradition from Israel for six years and the legal wrangle to bring her before an Australian court has caused a diplomatic strain between the allies.
Rivlin has been criticized for declining an invitation to meet three alleged victims during his visit this week to the Australian city of Melbourne where Leifer was the principal of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school until 2008.
The three siblings who allege they were abused by Leifer - Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Ellie Sapper - have been at the center of public campaign to bring Leifer before an Australian court.
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L-R: Ellie Sapper, Dassi Erlich and Nicole Meyer at the Jerusalem District Court last year
(Photo: EPA)
"We did not wish to ask you to interfere with the judicial process, only that you use your authority to ensure this case ends in a timely manner," Dassi wrote in a letter to Rivlin through the Israeli Embassy in Australia after the president declined to meet the siblings.
"Sadly, the president has underestimated the importance of this case to the Jewish and wider Australian community and the supportive encouragement that such a meeting would produce," she added.
Manny Waks, Melbourne-based chief executive of Kol v'Oz, a Jewish organization that combats child sex abuse, said it was "regrettable" the president could not find time to meet the sisters while in Melbourne.
"It seems President Rivlin has his priorities wrong on this trip," Waks told The Australian newspaper.
Neither Morrison nor Rivlin mentioned the case during brief public comments they made in Canberra before their bilateral meeting.
Morrison praised the "stridency of the judiciary" in Israel as one of the "great principles and values that underpin freedom" for which Israel stands.
Rivlin described Australia as a "beacon" that helped the world understand Israel's position.
He praised Australia's decision in December to oppose an International Criminal Court investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes against Palestinians.
“It is important to that other countries also express their opposition to this dangerous move to politicize the ICC,” Rivlin told the prime minister.
“Our army, the IDF, is our children and our grandchildren and we are proud of them and of the ability of our army to act as necessary to protect the citizens of the State of Israel.”
During their meeting the president also noted the dangers of growing Iranian influence in our region and stressed that we take the threats made by the Iranian leadership from every platform very seriously, and that we have no intention of standing by in the face of such threats.
Dozens of pro-Palestinians demonstrators rallied outside Parliament House before the meeting carrying signs including: "Israel is not above the law."
On Leifer, Rivlin told Australian Jewish News in a recent interview that he was "confident that Israel does not allow those who have committed crimes to avoid justice."
"I understand how painful and difficult the case of Malka Leifer is for the Australian Jewish community and for Australians generally," he said.
"The professional opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the State Prosecutor's Office is that the extradition should be carried out as soon as possible and are doing everything possible to expedite it," he added.
Australia requested Leifer's extradition in 2014 on 74 charges of child sex abuse and more than 60 Israeli court hearings have followed.
The Jerusalem District Court last month granted Leifer's attorneys' request to review a psychiatrists' ruling that she is fit to stand trial for extradition.
Opposition lawmaker Josh Burns, who represents the area where the sisters went to school, also used a meeting with Rivlin on Wednesday raise the case, Burns' office said.
Burns and government lawmaker Dave Sharma introduced a motion to Parliament two weeks ago demanding Israel immediately extradite Leifer.
A date for a vote on the motion has yet to be set, but it is expected to be carried with the major parties' support.