Israeli police arrest ex-principal, alleged child abuser Malka Leifer

Alleged paedophile Malka Leifer, a former school principal facing 74 charges of child sex abuse, has been arrested by Israeli police after a decade of fighting extradition.

Israeli authorities have accused Ms Leifer of faking a mental illness in order to avoid returning to Australia.

Ms Leifer fled to Israel in 2008 when allegations she had sexually abused girls at the ultra-orthodox Adass Israel School in Elsternwick, where she was principal, were first raised. She is wanted by Victoria Police on 74 counts of sexual assault and rape involving girls.

She was arrested by Israel police in 2014 when Australia applied for her extradition, but proceedings were dropped when a psychiatrist found Ms Leifer was unfit to stand trial.

Ms Leifer was released from her house arrest and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment in Jerusalem.

Read the article by Ebony Bowden & Benjamin Preiss in The Age.