Yavne'el council head absent from discussions, MK arrives: 'The lives of youth are being abandoned'

The chair of the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, MK Merav Cohen, arrived today, Wednesday, at a meeting of the Yavne'el local council against the backdrop of the ongoing phenomenon of child marriages in the community. She harshly criticized the conduct of the council and the local welfare department.

According to Cohen, the council head did not attend the discussions held by the committee on the matter in the Knesset and did not participate in the tour she conducted at the site.

"Out of necessity, we arrived uninvited to the council meeting to demand that it urgently address the issue," she said.

Cohen claimed that an extremist sect operates in the community, marrying off minors in violation of the law, and that the local welfare department is not functioning as required.

"Day by day, the lives of boys and girls who were married off by force are being abandoned," she stated.

According to her, the community already numbers hundreds of families, and "almost every month a girl gives birth to a baby."

Against this backdrop, the school year in Yavne'el began with a girls' seminary headed by a director who married off her daughters while they were minors. According to reports, students at the institution arrive at school while pregnant, without the matter being reported to the authorities. At the same time, allegations persist that child marriages in the community continue.

Recently, it was also reported that the council head participated in a Sheva Brachot event held for minors belonging to the sect.