Yavne'el resident suspected of marrying off minor daughter: "I am fighting against this - so they are taking revenge on me"

Sara Maimoni, a survivor of the ultra-Orthodox extremist sect in Yavne'el, who says she was forced to marry at age 15, was questioned this morning (Thursday) on suspicion of organizing a wedding for her daughter when she was 16. Maimoni is one of 16 suspects arrested in a police raid on several targets, and she is the one who revealed her identity.

"Everything is false accusations that never happened. None of my children ever married as a minor. Those who came to testify against me are the leaders of the sect who marry off their children as minors," Maimoni claimed.

"The police are trying to silence me because I am exposing their huge failure. The whole goal of the police is to break me and my spirit. It will not work for them. I told the investigators: if you think you will break me, I will continue on my path. If you do not do your job, I will continue to appear in every possible media outlet until this horrific phenomenon stops."

Maimoni previously revealed her story at a discussion held by the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women and Gender Equality following reports on the weddings of teenagers in Yavne'el. She recounted that she was forced to marry at age 15, and at age 16 she became a mother for the first time. In another discussion last July, she criticized the police: "The police were afraid to touch the head of the snake; for the sake of records and headlines in the media, you arrested innocent people, good and decent people," she said then.

The police stated this morning that "the Northern District Police is conducting an ongoing struggle against the phenomenon of minor marriages that is allegedly taking place in violation of the law within a small and closed community, whose main activity takes place in the moshav of Yavne'el in the Lower Galilee." After more than 20 suspects involved in minor marriages in the town were detained for questioning a few weeks ago, this morning dozens of police officers from the Northern District raided several targets in Yavne'el once again, detaining 16 minors and adults for questioning.

Given the secrecy in the sect, it is unclear to the police whether Maimoni eventually married off her daughter or whether the wedding did not take place in the end. However, the police claim they have evidence that allegedly points to the organization of such a wedding.