Netanyahu and another thwarted extradition

Litzman and Netanyahu [Image Source]

There has been much written about Netanyahu's role in Israel's failure to extradite alleged sexual predator and pedophile Malka Leifer to Australia. His recent appointment of ultra-Orthodox Yaakov Litzman as his next Minister of Health has outraged many, particularly Australians.

Litzman is suspected of assisting Leifer's evasion of justice in his previous capacity as Deputy Minister of Health. There are widely publicized claims that Litzman pressured psychiatrists who examined Leifer to testify that she was mentally unfit to be extradited.

Several state psychiatrists determined that Leifer was feigning mental illness and was fully capable of facing trial, despite her lawyers' contention that she is mentally unfit. But a major setback occurred when a court-appointed psychiatrist recanted his assessment that she was mentally fit. Israeli police have determined that Litzman, one of the most powerful ultra-Orthodox politicians in Israel, was behind efforts to pressure the psychiatrist to change his assessment. They recommend Litzman's indictment for fraud and breach of trust.

Yet this is the man that our prime minister has selected as his next Minister of Health! Two weeks ago the government dutfully approved Litzman’s appointment.

From Haaretz:

The president of the Zionist Federation of Australia published a letter on Sunday protesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision. And the Australian Jewish community is united in its fury over the matter. ZFA President Jeremy Leibler called the appointment a “slap in the face” of the Australian Jewish community, the Australian people, Australian immigrants in Israel and most of all, Leifer’s alleged victims.

However despite the in-depth media coverage garnered by the Litzman-Leifer affair, little is known about Netanyahu's role in another case where a criminal's extradition to stand trial is being blocked. This one involves Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, murderer of 16 Jews, among them our chld, Malki. Her extradition is being demanded by the US from Jordan.

Jordan has refused to abide by the 1995 extradition treaty it signed with the US and which the US explicitly states is valid and binding. Little pressure is being exerted by the US State Department on Jordan to reverse its decision to give that alleged murderer - Ahlam Tamimi - refuge and the freedom to incite her millions of fans to follow in her footsteps. She accomplishes that through her intense TV and social media presence.

One man we can thank for this travesty of justice is Prime Minister Netanyahu. He executed the now maligned Shalit Deal in 2011. Despite our desperate attempts to prevent Tamimi's inclusion in that catastrophic "deal", before its execution, Netanyahu has never made any contact with us – not before, not during, not after that deadly transaction.

We heard nothing from him when he decided – against the clear stated policy that underpinned the Shalit Deal - to let the fiancé of our child’s murderer cross the Jordan River and be united with her. And then just a few weeks later, to marry her in a wedding that got huge Arab media attention.

Freed in the 2011 Shalit Deal, Ahlam Tamimi is currently
a fugitive from US justice [Image Source: FBI]

When the US authorities decided to seek the arrest and extradition of Tamimi from Jordan once the Shalit Deal was done and to have her face terrorism charges in Washington ["15-Mar-17: Sbarro and justice"], Mr Netanyahu remained publicly silent.

However people we know in Washington told us influential US officials had given them to understand – strictly off the record - that the Netanyahu government was opposed to having Tamimi handed over to the US for prosecution by the Department of Justice.

Our understanding is that Mr Netanyahu not only ignored us at every step, ignored the letters we arranged to be delivered into his hand, ignored the pleas we made to keep her in prison. More than that, and while we can’t prove it, it appears he actively undermines our current efforts to see her brought to justice under US law. 

Netanyahu's infuriating conduct before, during and after the Shalit Deal will obviously never result in any criminal charges like his other misconduct has.

However, it would behoove all voters to consider the above when they vote in March. Do you really want the champion of mass murdering terrorists to continue ruling us?