Under the Cover of an Engagement Party, Minors' Wedding in Yavne'el Draws New Scrutiny

A hidden-camera report by Channel 12 says members of the Breslov community in Yavne'el held another underage marriage on Wednesday evening in a wedding hall in Afula, this time for a 16-year-old groom and a 17-year-old bride. Because Israeli law forbids marriage under 18, the couple were not filmed under the chuppah itself, and the public event was presented as an "engagement party" rather than a wedding.

According to the report, the bride arrived wearing a wig, a sign used in the community to indicate a married woman. The story says the Yavne'el community has for years found ways to bypass the law and hold marriages for dozens of minors, often in plain view of police and welfare authorities.

The bride's mother, who runs an educational institution in the area, is also identified as having married off another daughter at age 15.5, while claiming then as well that it was only an engagement. The report argues that this makes the case especially striking because the mother is an educator who is expected to protect girls and serve as a role model.

Channel 12 says it first exposed underage marriages in this community five years ago and then sought answers from police, welfare services and the mayor. Yavne'el Regional Council head Shenir Harchis was quoted at the time saying, "If it happens, it hurts me too, what can I do. A council head sits in his office, in meetings all day, he cannot see what is happening beneath the surface, and if he does see it, he reports it onward." Police recently publicized an arrest of an underage wedding at a house in the settlement, but the new footage suggests the practice continues and still needs deeper enforcement.