Dozens of protesters entered the Ayalon Highway near Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Center on Sunday evening, blocking traffic and calling for the investigation into the disappearance of Haymanut Kasau to be expanded.
Israel Police removed the protesters from the highway. Haymanut’s relatives and activists campaigning on her behalf said the investigation had exhausted the police’s capabilities and demanded that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) take over the case.
Racheli Abata, a campaign activist and relative of Kasau, told Walla that the family viewed the authorities’ handling of the case as an ongoing failure.
“Her case is an abduction. She is defined as missing, but in practice she was abducted on February 25, 2024, from the absorption center,” said Abata. “The family is now asking for the Shin Bet to enter the investigation because they believe the police have failed.
“Her case was transferred to Lahav 433 – The National Crime Unit, and since then there has been no response,” Abata continued. “Her father is furious, and there is no one to provide answers. He knows that only the Shin Bet can help, and he is asking for a new investigative team to be established.”
Protesters block roads in Tel Aviv demanding further government action into the disappearance of four-year-old Haymanut Kasau, July 26, 2026. (credit: Uriel Even Sapir)
Abata said the lack of progress had left the family with no choice but to take to the streets.
“There has been a failure here,” Abata stressed. “A nine-year-old girl was abducted, and 14 minutes were deleted from the recording. We understand that there is no other way except to block roads and take to the streets. For more than two years, I have been seeing stories of unequal treatment. The sweet boy who went missing in Ashkelon, I shared posts about him constantly, and within a day the Shin Bet joined the investigation. What about Haymanut?
Abata: Shin Bet involvement would make ‘enormous difference’
“Look at the enormous difference when the Shin Bet is involved in an investigation,” she added. “We receive no updates and do not know where things stand. This is a family that has been in Israel for five years, and she was abducted after just three years. She is seen entering the complex, but she is not seen leaving.”
She said the family believed the authorities had abandoned them and that time was working against Haymanut.
“The police admitted that this was beyond their capabilities. Enough, we have reached our limit. The authorities have abandoned us. Apart from politics, we do not see them doing anything. We do not know what condition she is in, or whether she is eating and drinking. Time is not on her side.”
Abata said the investigation had been marked by repeated failures since Haymanut disappeared.
“What is left for us to do other than fight? We feel that her case is being neglected. Since she was abducted, there has been one failure after another. Everything appeared to have been planned. It is inconceivable that a girl is abducted and there is deafening silence. Bring her back already.”
Haymanut disappeared from an immigrant absorption center in Safed 882 days ago. Her father, Taspia Kasau, said the rapid discovery of four-year-old Yuval Kogan highlighted the disparity between the response to Yuval’s disappearance and the handling of his daughter’s case.
“First of all, I am happy and moved that Yuval was found quickly, and that his family was spared many more tears,” he told Walla. “But the gap is heartbreaking. All the organization surrounding his disappearance, and the entire system that mobilized to search for and find him, only highlights what was not done for Haymanut.”
Kasau said the family had made the same demand for more than two and a half years, calling on the state to use its advanced technological capabilities to locate Haymanut.
“For two and a half years, we have been saying that the state has advanced technological capabilities to find any person. We held protests, met with people, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and asked them to use those capabilities. None of that happened, and our girl is still not with us.”
He said the family could not ignore its sense that discrimination had influenced the handling of the case.
“I have no doubt at all that this is based on a racist attitude. We are new immigrants, we do not speak Hebrew, we are not powerful, and we have no connections or money. By contrast, this child came from a family that knew how to mobilize all the resources, connections, and forces, and he was found within about 24 hours. It only highlighted what we have always felt, that this is connected to the fact that we are Ethiopian and do not speak Hebrew.”
One of the family’s main demands is for the Shin Bet to join the investigation.
“In Yuval’s case, both the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence were involved. In our case, the Shin Bet did not become involved at all. If they had been involved, we would have known,” he said.
Kasau said that although the attorney general approved the possibility of involving the Shin Bet in the investigation in January, the agency had not joined the case.
“We were told that no nationalistic motive was suspected, and therefore the Shin Bet did not become involved.”
He added that security professionals had told the family that Haymanut’s disappearance from a public institution operated by the Jewish Agency and the Aliyah and Integration Ministry justified the agency’s involvement.
‘An attack on an entity of the state’
“This is an attack on an entity of the state,” he said.
Kasau said the family’s meeting with Netanyahu had also failed to produce any change.
“He told us he would examine the matter and get back to us with an answer. We have not heard from him since.”
He also criticized the police’s handling of the investigation, saying the family had received little information about its progress.
“I do not even know where things stand today. At Lahav 443, they do not answer my calls. The police in Safed did not do what they needed to do. Even when we brought them information, they did not really examine it. Only after members of Knesset raised the issue in a Knesset committee did they go and investigate.”
Kasau stressed that his criticism was directed at the state and its institutions, rather than the Israeli public.
“My anger is directed at the state, the government, and the authorities, not at the citizens. The citizens are the ones showing us the way through the darkness. They help us, march with us, and strengthen us. I can see on their faces that their hearts are broken.”
He called on the public to continue supporting the family’s campaign and to urge the government to bring the Shin Bet into the investigation.
“Stand by us and help us call on the state to bring the Shin Bet into Haymanut’s case. I am asking people to pressure the government to do this. I believe that the girl was abducted, that she was taken and is being held by people. She must be searched for using every available means.”
Kasau said he struggled to describe the reality his family had faced since his daughter disappeared.
“It is impossible even to express in words what it feels like when your son or daughter is taken from you, and you do not know where they are. You cannot sleep, you cannot eat, and you cannot speak. I know that this is what Yuval’s parents felt while he was missing. But for us, this has already continued for 882 days. I feel as though I am between the living and the dead. My younger children also constantly ask why she was taken and where she is. When I walk down the street and see little girls her age, I am constantly searching. I constantly think that perhaps I will find her. I would not wish this experience on anyone.”
He said Haymanut deserved the same treatment as any other Israeli citizen.
“This country belongs to all of us. It is a country for all Jews, regardless of the color of our skin. I expect the public to demand that the state give Haymanut the same treatment. There is no fundamental difference between them. We are all citizens of the same country.”
Haymanut’s family said its campaign would not end with a single protest and would continue to press the authorities to expand the investigation.
Source:
www.jpost.com
