Public Attitudes Toward Institutional Child Sexual Abuse in Israel: The Case of Malka Leifer

Efrat Lusky-Weisrose; Amitai Marmor; Dafna Tener

doi:10.1177/10790632211000368

Public Attitudes Toward Institutional Child Sexual Abuse in Israel: The Case of Malka Leifer

Efrat Lusky-Weisrose^*, Amitai Marmor, Dafna Tener

^*Corresponding author for this work

The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examined Israeli public perceptions of institutional child sexual abuse (CSA) in the Malka Leifer case. Leifer is a Jewish ultra-Orthodox former Melbourne school principal who is wanted in Australia on CSA charges, after fleeing to Israel. Based on a qualitative analysis of 2,451 reader comments retrieved from four Israeli news websites and six public Facebook pages, the findings indicated diverse attitudes toward the alleged perpetrator, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, state authorities, and victims. All parties involved were criticized, but less so the victims. Criticisms included sociopolitical and gender stereotypes, and demonic attributions. Positive comments were directed at all involved, even the alleged perpetrator, and especially the victims. The results demonstrate the need to better understand CSA portrayals in cyberspace, as they affect both public and policymaker attitudes, and the importance of fighting prejudicial discourse about the ultra-Orthodox community, especially in light of its changing attitudes regarding CSA.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	157-179
Number of pages	23
Journal	Sexual Abuse: Journal of Research and Treatment
Volume	34
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/10790632211000368
State	Published - Mar 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to express our great appreciation to Prof. Philip Mendes and Marcia Pinskier for their valuable and constructive suggestions during the planning and development of the study. We also want to thank them and their colleague Dr. Samone Mccurdy whose “How do Jewish communities respond to manifestations of institutional child sexual abuse? A case study of Malka Leifer and Adass Israel in Melbourne, Australia” (2019) was the inspiration for this research. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Keywords

female perpetrator
institutional child sexual abuse (CSA)
online media
religion
ultra-Orthodox Jews
Public Opinion
Attitude
Humans
Judaism
Israel
Child
Child Abuse, Sexual

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1177/10790632211000368

Cite this

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title = "Public Attitudes Toward Institutional Child Sexual Abuse in Israel: The Case of Malka Leifer",

abstract = "This study examined Israeli public perceptions of institutional child sexual abuse (CSA) in the Malka Leifer case. Leifer is a Jewish ultra-Orthodox former Melbourne school principal who is wanted in Australia on CSA charges, after fleeing to Israel. Based on a qualitative analysis of 2,451 reader comments retrieved from four Israeli news websites and six public Facebook pages, the findings indicated diverse attitudes toward the alleged perpetrator, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, state authorities, and victims. All parties involved were criticized, but less so the victims. Criticisms included sociopolitical and gender stereotypes, and demonic attributions. Positive comments were directed at all involved, even the alleged perpetrator, and especially the victims. The results demonstrate the need to better understand CSA portrayals in cyberspace, as they affect both public and policymaker attitudes, and the importance of fighting prejudicial discourse about the ultra-Orthodox community, especially in light of its changing attitudes regarding CSA.",

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note = "Funding Information: We would like to express our great appreciation to Prof. Philip Mendes and Marcia Pinskier for their valuable and constructive suggestions during the planning and development of the study. We also want to thank them and their colleague Dr. Samone Mccurdy whose “How do Jewish communities respond to manifestations of institutional child sexual abuse? A case study of Malka Leifer and Adass Israel in Melbourne, Australia” (2019) was the inspiration for this research. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2021.",

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Public Attitudes Toward Institutional Child Sexual Abuse in Israel: The Case of Malka Leifer

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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