Australian oleh votes against Litzman, for Malka Leifer’s abused victims

"There was no way that I could vote gimmel."

A vote against Malka Leifer (photo credit: Courtesy)
A vote against Malka Leifer
(photo credit: Courtesy)
An ultra-Orthodox resident of Jerusalem cast an informal ballot for the first time this Tuesday, when he voted for Australian journalist and sexual abuse advocate Derryn Hinch and against Agudat Yisrael. He had voted for Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman’s party in all the previous elections for which he was eligible to vote.
Howard, who asked that his last name not be used, said that he lived in Melbourne during the time that Malka Leifer allegedly committed at least 74 acts of child sexual abuse. Leifer was arrested in February 2018. Victorian police fought to bring Leifer back to Australia but Israel has not yet agreed to extradite her.
Recently, it was reported that Litzman was questioned at the National Fraud Investigation Unit in Lahav on suspicion of obstructing legal proceedings by working to obtain false papers in order to prevent Leifer’s extradition.
“Once that broke, there was no way that I could vote gimmel,” said Howard, referencing the Hebrew letter that voters select to vote Agudat Yisrael. 
Instead, Howard cast what is called an informal ballot on which he penned a note, “Extradite Malka Leifer to Australia.”
“I know at least one of the victims,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “This is an issue that really bothers me.”