Police detain Yavne’el sect members suspected of conducting underage marriages

Police this morning detained several residents of Yavne’el in northern Israel on suspicion of secretly marrying dozens of minors to one another, a practice law enforcement believes has been ongoing for years in the northern town.

Yavne’el’s Breslov sect has been reported to systematically marry off girls as young as 12 to husbands, some their age and others much older, pointing to widespread child sexual abuse in the community.

The raid comes after a months-long investigation into underage marriages performed within a “small, closed community,” police say, referring to the Breslov Hasidic sect that dominates Yavne’el.

Community members suspected of playing matchmaker, organizing weddings and conducting the ceremonies were detained for interrogation, police say, without specifying the number of suspects.

Several minors believed to have been married in recent months were also detained for questioning, police say.

Organizers allegedly went out of their way to conceal these weddings from the public eye, limiting the number of guests and barring those in attendance from bringing their cellphones to ceremonies, usually held early in the morning.

Children raised in the community are taught to marry and conceive young as part of the sect’s religious outlook.

Additionally, police say they identified over 20 cases over the past three years in which girls from the community gave birth without being officially married, indicating that they had been unlawfully wedded to their spouse in a secret ceremony.

In February, police raided an underage wedding ceremony that took place in a private home in Yavne’el. The couple was wearing wedding attire, and police found a marriage contract and wedding rings on the property.