In what may be the most expensive game of hide-and-seek in antipodean legal history, former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer spent roughly fifteen years avoiding extradition from Israel after fleeing in 2008, when accusations of child sexual abuse at her ultra-Orthodox institution inconveniently began to surface. Leifer had served as principal of Adass Israel School between 2003 and 2007, during which time she committed offences against students eventually codified into 70 separate charges including rape, indecent assault, and sexual penetration of a child. Somewhere between the school gate and the Jerusalem airport, institutional loyalty apparently outweighed the welfare of children.

The extradition saga featured a special guest villain: Israeli politician Yaakov Litzman, a former government minister who used his position to interfere with proceedings — presumably on the theory that public office exists to protect the well-connected. Litzman resigned from the Knesset and accepted a plea deal for breach of trust, receiving a fine so minor it barely registered as inconvenience. No conviction recorded.

Leifer was eventually extradited, tried in early 2023, and convicted on 18 of 70 charges. She received 15 years' custody with a non-parole period of 11 and a half years. A civil court separately awarded victims A$1.27 million in exemplary damages against both Leifer and the school. Justice arrived. It just took a decade and a half to clear customs.