AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News
THE Australian is expected to apologise this weekend after it claimed that former president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia (ORA) Rabbi Dovid Freilich said that 95 per cent of Australian rabbis believe child sexual abuse charges should be dealt with internally.
Rabbi Freilich praised the article, “The Shunned”, that appeared in Saturday’s edition of The Australian, because he said that whatever can be done to stamp out the scourge of sexual abuse of children in society is to be commended and encouraged, but said that being misquoted was disappointing.
“I believe that the vast majority of rabbis in Australia firmly and categorically support the immediate reporting of child abuse to the police,” Rabbi Freilich said in a letter to The AJN and The Australian this week.
“This was always the official stance of the ORA.”
Senior writer at The Australian Kate Legge apologised to the rabbi when she was contacted by Rabbi Freilich this week.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.