Israel’s Legal Aid unit in the Justice Ministry is financing paternity tests for children born to a Bedouin Israeli father and a Palestinian mother, according to a report aired Sunday on Channel 14. If paternity is recognized, the child can become eligible for Israeli citizenship, and the mother may later seek legal status in Israel through the regular process.
The report said the issue comes as Knesset lawmakers are advancing legislation meant to combat polygamy in the Negev. Critics argue that public funds are being used for legal proceedings that could effectively normalize family arrangements tied to polygamous relationships between Israeli Bedouin men and Palestinian women.
Hagai Reznik, chairman of the Riffman Institute for Negev Development, sent an urgent letter Monday to Justice Minister Yariv Levin demanding that the financing stop. He called it a loophole that, in his view, encourages the spread of polygamy in the Negev and uses state resources to do so. The institute said polygamy in the Bedouin community in the Negev is estimated at 20% to 35% of households, that 70% to 80% of the additional wives in such families are Palestinian, and that 7,000 to 10,000 Palestinian women currently live there in polygamous relationships.
The institute also projected that the Bedouin population in the Negev will grow from about 286,000 in 2023 to more than 1 million by 2050. It said the number of polygamous households could rise to about 53,000, including roughly 40,000 with Palestinian ties. Against that backdrop, MK Oded Forer is promoting a bill to strip child allowances from polygamous families.
In his letter, Reznik asked Levin to halt funding for these paternity tests, continue pushing anti-polygamy legislation, and convene an urgent meeting with government and security officials. Levin’s office said a broad policy review is underway to overhaul Legal Aid and cancel legal entitlements in cases where they are not justified, while preserving and expanding assistance where warranted. The office also said an amendment is being prepared to the funding rules for tests in order to prevent abuse of the Legal Aid system.
