Community leadership bodies slammed at public forum over responses to sexual abuse

Manny Waks said community roof bodies had not delivered on their assurances, and also criticised the Yeshivah Centre over its response to recent cases.

Child sexual abuse advocate Manny Waks has accused Jewish community leadership bodies of failing to deliver on guarantees promised in the wake of the royal commission five years ago.

He also criticised the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne over its response to recent cases of “sexualised behaviour” involving young children at the centre.

Waks was speaking at a public event in Melbourne on Tuesday night, attended by the federal member for Macnamara, Josh Burns, and the Victorian member for Caulfield, David Southwick, that discussed the Jewish community’s progress since the royal commission wound up.

Waks said his global advocacy group, VoiCSA, had been dealing with “over a dozen cases” of child sexual abuse involved with the Yeshiva Centre” over the past few months.

Victoria police told The Jewish Independent they investigated five reports of “sexualised behaviour” involving “a group of children” at the centre. Three of the incidents are alleged to have occurred between May and October 2021. It is believed only five of the total number of cases were reported to police.

The Jewish Independent does not suggest that the alleged offences took place in the school or involved a teacher. 

Waks told the public forum: “I'm not making any allegations that it's a staff member, or volunteers. And I'm also not suggesting that things were swept under the carpet.

“It’s too early to say whether or not things were addressed appropriately by the Centre but its response to our most recent allegations and to our interactions with them has been poor.  It’s as simple as that, and therefore, I am concerned.”