A known psychologist who writes a column in one of the largest news portals in the country was arrested for allegedly committing sexual crimes against minors, Maariv, the sister publication of The Jerusalem Post reported.
The alleged crimes took place when he was a student at Ben-Gurion University and was living in Beersheba.
Due to the location of the alleged crimes, the investigation is being conducted by the Beersheba police despite the fact the man currently resides in the north of the country.
He is suspected of reaching out to several children and sexually exploiting them. The Israeli Public Psychology Forum denounced the psychologist’s actions in a statement saying that if the allegations are true, the Forum applauds the complainant for filing the report. The Forum also emphasized that sexual contact with past or present clients constituted both an “ethical” and a “legal offense.”
In another case of suspected child abuse, Australian citizen Malka Leifer refused to cooperate with a new psychiatric panel supposed to decide if she is mentally fit to be extradited to her native country, from which she fled in 2008, to face trial.
The legal efforts to have her extradited began in 2014, she is facing 74 charges of sexual assault against minors which allegedly took place during her time serving as principal of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne.
It is suspected that Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman attempted to back the opinion she is mentally unfit to face the Australian court due to her being a Haredi woman and the powerful cultural taboo in that society from handing over a Jewish person to be sentenced by non-Jews.