An undercover Channel 12 report says a Yavniel community wedding was held on Wednesday evening in Afula for a 16-year-old groom and a 17-year-old bride, despite Israeli law barring marriage under 18. To evade enforcement, the event was officially presented as an "engagement party," and the bride arrived wearing a wig, a sign of married status in the community.
The report says the ceremony and celebration took place in an event hall in central Afula, not in secret. It describes the Yavniel Breslov Hasidic community as having married off dozens of minors for years by holding a small family ceremony and then a public party labeled as an engagement. Because the marriage itself could not be filmed, the program said the chuppah was not recorded.
The bride’s mother is the head of an educational institution in the area, according to the report. Channel 12 said this was not the first such case in the family, noting that another daughter was married at age 15.5 and was also described then as merely being engaged.
The broadcast said it had first exposed the issue five years ago and had contacted the police, welfare authorities, and the mayor’s office. Then-Yavniel council head Shneir Ha'arish said, "If it happens, it hurts me too. What can you do? A council head sits in his office, in meetings all day, he cannot see what is happening beneath the surface, and if he sees it, he reports it on." The police recently publicized an arrest during an attempted child wedding, but Channel 12 said the latest footage shows the practice is still ongoing and requires deeper enforcement.
