UTJ Yaakov Litzman signed a plea agreement with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Thursday, days before Mandelblit ends his term of office next week.
Almost all charges against Litzman were dropped, including an obstruction of justice charge, and he admitted only to breach of trust in the Malka Leifer case. He had been accused of interfering in Leifer’s extradition process. Leifer was a principal of a Frum girls school in Melbourne who was accused of assaulting minors.
The deal has Litzman paying a small fine of NIS 3,000 ($938) and receiving a suspended jail sentence. He will also resign from the Knesset but will not be branded with a moral turpitude charge, which would prevent him from returning to politics for seven years.
Litzman announced last month that he was resigning from politics and will not be running in the next elections, in a move that he said was not connected to the charges against him.
Litzman’s lawyers said that Litzman did not know Leifer personally and he intervened in her case only “in response to a request he received…and without any personal interest or motives.”
“In all his years of public service, Litzman has worked for the good of the public and paid special attention to public requests in accordance with the law,” his lawyers stated.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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12 Responses
Every move Litzman made was directed by the Gerrer Rebbe. Yet another shameful example of top charedi leadership protecting molesters in their communities and ignoring their victims. Hopefully Mondrowitz will finally be extradited to face justice in the U.S. despite the decades long efforts of the Gerrer Rebbe to shield him.
“In all his years of public service, Litzman has worked for the good of the public whereas madelblit has been a despicable piece of work whose Good Riddance come Tuesday cannot arrive soon enough and shall be משנכמס אדר מרבין בשמחה of the absolute highest order.
Its good the Frum serve in the Knesset as a lesson to the Chilonim how a Ben Torah behaves.
Kuvult: Are you serious?? This clown has been a disaster at every job he ever held in the government. Of particular note was his pathetic performance as health minister where he seemingly was clueless on one crisis after another and ignored the advice of public health professionals. His plea agreement will hopefully be the end of his public disservice.
Litzman is power-hungry, corrupt, and a disgrace to frum Yidden. Once again, he has weaseled out of any responsibility for at the very least, bad judgment and incompetence. But I believe he is a lowlife and he’s caused a lot of pain for a lot of people. Good riddance.
I hope other good doers will learn from this.
well, i think 147 should be happy with litzman’s chelek in olam habah; i would be happy with mandelblitt’s.
The top commenter named himself well, Gadol Hadofi. How dare you? How dare you talk like that about the Gerrer Rebbe? How are you not afraid to do so? Madua lo yereisem ledaber be’avdi bemoshe? Who are you to decide what is right or wrong? If you see him doing something you thought wrong, that should be enough to prove to you that your values are out of whack.
Milhouse:
The Gerrer Rebbe is not my posek and I don’t have to accept his decades long shielding of convicted molesters. My values are out of whack? What does your meek acceptance of this outrageous injustice to the victims say about your values?
Milhouse, God forbid if your daughter or granddaughter experienced someone like malka leifer, i wonder how your opinion might be affected?
“How dare you? How dare you talk like that about the Gerrer Rebbe? How are you not afraid to do so?..”
Very easy, when the Gerrer Rebbe, or any other Rav for that matter, inserts himself into debates over housing, public health policy, etc. as was the case for years when Litzman fumbled his way through various ministries, it is imperative for the public to speak out when they screw up. On matters of public policy, everyone is obligated to thoughtfully consider and debate the issues and not mindlessly defer to anyone.
Milhouse,
Typical non-argument.
Its not he’s a Gadol so he can do no wrong.
Its he can do no wrong so hes a Gadol.