The State Prosecutor’s Office did not file a single indictment against persons who performed marriages of minors in 2014, although the police recommended filing six indictments against those involved. The police investigated 37 complaints that year, although the Interior Ministry reported that 416 such unions had taken place during the same period. […]

… 22 couples of religious Jewish minors opted to sign up in the marriage registry of the ultra-Orthodox Edah Haharedit in Jerusalem. […]

While the law does allow family courts to recognize such marriages in exceptional cases – such as those involving children of leading Hasidic rabbis, or those resulting from pregnancy out of wedlock – the vast majority of these ceremonies are conducted in violation of the law.

MK Uri Maklev (United Torah Judaism) said that there are women who married at an early age “and enjoyed great happiness and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

Maklev proposed that the Knesset Research and Information Center create a better database of information regarding the age of individuals entering into marriage.

Committee chairman MK Nissan Slomiansky (Haybayit Hayehudi): “If a few parents are prosecuted, the phenomenon might end.”

Slomiansky also announced that he would hold an additional session to discuss the situation of underage unions among the Jewish community.