Former Jewish Leader in Sydney Charged With Sexually Assaulting Four Men
A former Jewish leader from Sydney will appear in court next month on charges of sexually assaulting four men.
David Bitel, 60, a ex-member of the executive of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies and a prominent attorney, was arrested last week and charged with seven offenses, including rape and indecent assault on four of his male clients. The alleged incidents took place in Sydney between 1995 and 2004, police say.
Bitel was granted strict conditional bail and ordered to appear in court on Jan. 22.
The allegations relate to four men of Nepalese, Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi origin.
Bitel, whose grandparents were refugees from the pogroms of czarist Russia, was president of the Refugee Council of Australia for a decade from 1995. He has been the chairman of the Australian Refugee Foundation and been lauded for his work on behalf of refugees.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
