Gag order on sexual abuse case involving cabinet minister highlights lack of transparency

When Dassi Erlich came forward in 2007 with allegations of abuse against her former school principal, Malka Leifer, she thought that speaking out would be the hardest part. But what followed was much worse: a 16-year legal battle marked by the frustration of watching the very system meant to protect her instead shield her abuser.

Though Erlich and her sisters Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper — who also accused Leifer of assault — waived their rights to anonymity, Australian courts barred them from speaking about the issue as long as Israeli courts maintained a gag order preventing the press from identifying Leifer.

“After finally finding the courage to speak, we were legally forced back into silence. It felt like the system was telling me that what happened to me was shameful — my shame — when the shame only belonged to her,” Erlich told The Times of Israel.

While international media covered the case freely, the Israeli public was kept in the dark about who Leifer was and what she had been accused of. The result, Erlich says, was a justice system that muzzled survivors while enabling perpetrators to act behind closed doors.

That experience, she said, “felt like a punishment” — and it’s one that continues in Israel today.

Allegations of sexual abuse have been made by the daughter of a senior government minister against her parents, but the case has been subject to one of the most comprehensive gag orders in recent memory.

Despite the gravity of the claims about a public official, the press is legally barred from reporting on the case in any meaningful way, including naming those involved, the details of the investigation and, until last week, the case’s very existence.

Gag orders — court-imposed bans on publishing case details — are a common feature of the Israeli legal landscape, especially in cases of sexual assault. They are intended to protect the privacy and safety of both victims and the accused, and to ensure the integrity of legal proceedings.

In criminal investigations, temporary publication bans can prevent suspects from coordinating testimonies, tampering with evidence, or evading law enforcement. In cases of sexual assault, gag orders can be crucial for safeguarding the identities of vulnerable individuals, such as minors, victims, or witnesses at risk of retaliation.

They also protect the fundamental right of suspects to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, preventing trial by media and the irreversible damage that public accusations, particularly of sexual assault, can cause.

“It’s standard procedure when accusations are made. At the early stage of an investigation, especially when it’s a public figure, it can do huge damage to be accused of having committed a sexual offense,” says Irit Gazit, the director of the Documentation Unit at the Civil Commission on Oct 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children.

However, the current blackout has prompted discussion about the weaponization of gag orders to shield the powerful and silence accusations, and the right of the public to information — particularly when it concerns members of government.

This is by no means the first time gag orders have been used to shield powerful figures from sexual assault allegations. When former president Moshe Katsav was first accused of rape in 2006, his identity was protected by a gag order. In 2021, businessman and former owner of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team Moshe Hogeg was arrested on charges related to sex trafficking and underage prostitution, yet the press was initially barred from identifying him.

During Leifer’s extradition hearings, Israeli media was barred from naming her and forced to blur her image, even as the case was being covered by foreign press. Leifer was ultimately extradited in 2021 and sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty on 18 counts of sexual abuse against Erlich and Sapper.

“It didn’t feel like protection — it felt like erasure,” said Erlich of the fact that gag orders have been presented as tools to protect the privacy and dignity of victims. “We were being treated like criminals for being survivors.”

For sister Meyer, the use of gag orders in cases like theirs reflects a larger systemic failure, which is global in scope.

“Judicial systems around the world prioritize the rights of the accused over those of victims,” she said. “They demoralize, silence, and invalidate victims and their stories.”

“It made justice feel one-sided. I was silenced, yet [Leifer] was still able to manipulate the system behind closed doors,” said Erlich. “How can you trust a process that shields the perpetrator more than it supports the people they harmed?”

‘People in power need to be scrutinized’

Orit Sulizeanu, CEO of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI), questions the current gag order over the sexual assault allegations against the senior government minister — especially because the accused holds power.

“Usually, when gag orders have been used it was to protect victims,” she said. “But this feels different. The question is whether the police decided to issue a gag order because it is merited or because it concerns a member of the government.”

According to ARCCI legal adviser Maya Oberbaum, gag orders are typically granted automatically for the first 48 hours at the police’s request, with further extensions needing court approval.

“The courts often lean toward non-disclosure to protect family privacy,” she said, “but that has created a system that is largely pro-accused.”

Gazit says that while gag orders have their legitimate uses, she cautioned that victims are often sidelined in the process.

“Even if you’re represented, you sit in the back of the courtroom with the audience — you have no place in the proceedings,” she said.

For Gazit, it’s not about eliminating protections, but balancing them.

“It shouldn’t be a zero-sum game between the rights of victims and the rights of the accused. You also have to consider the public’s right to be informed — especially when it concerns a public official,” she said.

That lack of visibility for victims is echoed by Sulizeanu. “There’s already a lot of distrust of Israeli police among survivors of sexual violence,” she said. “If the person who abused me is a prominent figure — a rabbi or a politician — it’s hard enough to come forward. Now, people will think that they don’t have a chance.”

The gag order regime in Israel stands in sharp contrast with how similar situations would play out in other democracies. While legal mechanisms in countries such as the United States, Canada and the UK do limit media reporting on sexual assault cases, they are generally applied with stricter oversight and narrower scope.

“The story that we can’t talk about is just one tiny example of a regime of gag orders in Israel,” said Dr. Ayala Panievsky, a researcher focused on media under attack and democratic backsliding at the Molad: Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy. “This is how entire issues disappear from public awareness.”

In the US, the First Amendment offers strong protections for press freedom, making it virtually unthinkable that allegations of sexual abuse against a sitting member of Congress could be legally withheld from the public.

Even in Canada and the UK, where courts can issue publication bans, especially in cases involving minors or to protect the integrity of a trial, the idea that allegations involving a public official could be known to journalists yet legally barred from publication is anathema.

Panievsky says that Israel’s gag order regime, already atypical among democracies in its scope and use, raises concerns about democratic backsliding, media suppression and the ability of the public to demand accountability from elected officials in Israel.

“There’s been a strategic campaign against critical reporting and independent journalism. Gag orders are just one part of it,” she alleged, adding that strategic lawsuits against public participation, military censorship and legislation targeting the press all “contribute to a media landscape increasingly unwilling — or unable — to challenge those in power.”

“People in power need to be scrutinized,” Panievsky said. “The people who are losing the most are the Israeli public — we know less than we should.”