Two full years have passed since the mysterious disappearance of the young Ethiopian girl Haymanut Kasau from Safed, with little progress made in the case.
Kasau, nine at the time, has been missing since February 25, 2024. Urging further action, her parents have repeatedly said that not nearly enough has been done to find their daughter.
The Knesset’s Committee for Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs will convene both a confidential and an open status update meeting on her case on Wednesday morning.
Activists from the Standing Together movement have hung signs in streets across the country reading, “Where is Haymanut?”
Kasau was last seen near an absorption center in Safed. She had been spotted on security camera footage at the center’s entrance. The child immigrated from Ethiopia with her family in 2021 and lived in Safed.
Search efforts were initially halted about three weeks after her disappearance and later resumed. Kasau’s family has long argued that all signs pointed to an abduction.
Over a dozen committee meetings in the Knesset on her disappearance have taken place with the attendance of Kasau’s family, police, and lawmakers.
Tesfaye Kasau: 'I am ashamed of the state'
Tesfaye, her father, told a panel in December, “I am ashamed of the state. My family has no tears left. I ask everyone to make every effort to find my daughter.”
He also said images of his daughter should be posted across the country, as was done with the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Nearly two years after her disappearance, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would personally involve himself in Kasau’s case, after a meeting with her family in his office in January.