In 2016, Malka Leifer, a former high school principal facing
74 counts of alleged sex abuse of her pupils in Australia, returned to live in Immanuel, but was rearrested in 2018 and extradited to Australia in 2021.
[17][18] In June 2018, Emmanuel was cited as a "haven for paedophiles" by
The Sydney Morning Herald, which exposed further alleged
child sexual abuse there by Leifer, committed "without consequence."
[19] Leifer's husband, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef (Jacob) Leifer, fled to Israel with her and reportedly heads the small Chust (Khust)
Hassidic community in Immanuel, where his wife was arrested.
[20] The father of Rabbi Leifer and former leader of the Khust Hasidic, Grand Rabbi Baruch Pinchas Leifer, was arrested, in January 2022, and charged with historical sexual abuse of a minor to whom he is related, and a then 18 year-old male; he denies the charges, which are before
Jerusalem Magistrate Courts.
[21][22]