The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) is involved in the search for Haymanut Kasau, an Israeli child now missing for 913 days, after disappearing on February 25, 2024. President Isaac Herzog said on Tuesday during a meeting with the Kasau family.
“The Shin Bet is involved in the case and is fully committed to contributing in every way to locating Haymanut.”
He added, “I thank the Israel Police for making a huge effort together with the Shin Bet and hope that we will receive good news.”
Herzog told the family that he was informed of the Shin Bet’s involvement during a conversation with agency chief David Zini.
The announcement follows the family’s written appeal to Zini on Monday, asking him to get involved in the investigation.
“For 911 days, we have been waiting and hoping for our daughter Haymanut to return,” Monday’s letter read. “Today, Israel Police has no information, direction, or theory as to what happened to our daughter.”
Haymanut was nine years old at the time of her disappearance from the area around the Safed Jewish Agency absorption center after spending time with her friends following a school day.
Haymanut a ‘child of the people of Israel’
Herzog told Haymanut’s parents that their daughter is a “child of the people of Israel,” noting the concern that Israelis have for her amid the search efforts.
“The State of Israel is using all the tools at its disposal to locate Haymanut,” Herzog said during the meeting at the President’s Residence. “This is a top priority for the enforcement agencies.”
Haymanut’s father, Tesfai Kasau, noted the family’s suspicions of discrimination against them “due to language differences or skin color” amid their efforts to get the Shin Bet involved in the search efforts.
Yeros, Haymanut’s sister, emphasized the hardship she faces as she awaits her younger sister’s return.
“I am a young woman, 20 years old, and I want to start living life,” she said. “Since the 11th grade, instead of living like girls my age, I am only concerned with searching for and fighting for my sister.
“Haymanut is a little girl, and we don’t know what she is going through,” she added.
Shin Bet involvement doesn’t imply nationalistic cause
The involvement of the Shin Bet does not imply a nationalistic motive for Haymanut’s disappearance, Army Radio said later on Tuesday, noting that the agency does not generally involve itself in such cases.
“We all, of course, pray and hope that Haymanut will be found, but it is not clear how the Shin Bet’s involvement in the investigation is consistent with the Shin Bet law,” it said.
“The Shin Bet may investigate events in which there is suspicion of a nationalist motive, damage to symbols of power, damage to state or government institutions, damage to the order of the democratic regime, or the prevention of espionage,” the radio station noted. “Ostensibly, the Shin Bet’s involvement may indicate a suspicion that this is a nationalist event; otherwise, it is difficult to explain why the organization is involved in this investigation.”
Idan Kweller and Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.