Australia Plans Wide Probe of ‘Vile’ Child Sex Abuse
Image by David Kramer
The announcement by Australia’s Prime Minister of a royal commission into the “vile and evil” scourge of child sex abuse has reignited the controversial issue inside the Jewish community.
Image by David Kramer
Julia Gillard announced Monday that the inquiry would include children under the care of all religious organizations and that it would focus on the response of the institutions to the alleged sex abuse cases.
Yeshivah College, an Orthodox school run by Chabad in Melbourne, has recently been at the center of controversy since allegations broke last year that students had been victims of sexual abuse.
Its principal, Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler, issued a statement Wednesday saying: “Child abuse is abhorrent and has a traumatic consequences for victims and their families. Victims of abuse deserve support and closure and a royal commission is a very positive and welcome step.”
Manny Waks, a spokesperson for alleged victims who claims he was abused as a student at Yeshivah College, said: “I’m receiving more and more allegations of child sexual abuse coming from the Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Jewish communities. Some are alleged to have occurred years ago while others as recent as the past few years.”
One alleged perpetrator, David Cyprys, is standing trial next year on numerous counts of child sex abuse against former students of Yeshivah College from the 1980s. Another alleged perpetrator, David Kramer, is awaiting extradition from America to Australia, where he is wanted by police who are investigating allegations he also committed child sex abuse while he taught at Yeshivah College between 1989 and 1993.
Malka Leifer, a former principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, fled the country for Israel in 2008 amid allegations she sexually abused female students.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
