Haymanot Kasau will mark her 10th birthday still missing this Friday, far from the family desperately waiting for her return.
Kasau, a now 10-year-old girl, was last seen on February 25, 2024, on the streets of Safed near the immigration absorption center where she lived. All traces of her since have gone cold.
Declaring Haymanot 'abducted'
Her father, Tesfaye Kasau, called on the National on the National Security Committee on the one-year mark of her disappearance to declare her "abducted".
Tesfaye addressed the committee: "The police have done everything they can, and we need to think outside the box. I think Haymanot was abducted. We need to establish a body that has all the tools to solve this problem. We are asking to change the status from missing to abducted."
Dr. Meir Carmon, a criminologist and private investigator who is supporting the family, also told the committee, "After examining all the findings, we came to the conclusion that this is an abduction in every sense of the word."
As of June 2024, 593 missing persons were known to the police – most of them long-term missing persons, the Knesset Research and Information Center reported.
Protesters call on police to classify her as kidnapped
A crowd gathered outside the Knesset on March 25 to rally for Haymanot, calling on the police to classify her as kidnapped rather than missing and involve the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) in the search for her.
Protesters also called on the police to form a special investigative team to search for the missing girl.
Witness testimony
Last August, her father, Tesfaye Kasau, told the Knesset’s Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Committee that a friend of his daughter had been a witness to the kidnapping.
“A friend of Haymanot gave an accurate description of a man with sidelocks who grabbed Haymanot, put her on his back, and ran away. The same person tried to grab Haymanot’s friend as well, but she ran away in time. The girl gave this testimony to the police and her teacher,” he said. However, the police denied such claims.
While police are working to find Haymanot, they are not doing enough, her father told the committee last month.
“Changing her status from missing to kidnapped would expand the resources police could dedicate to finding Haymanot,” he told the committee.
According to police, 60-70 actions related to the search have been taken in the past two months. Unfortunately, they have not provided any information.
Tesfaye also highlighted the responsibility of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, saying that they, too, are not doing enough.
“Pictures of my daughter with a hotline for providing information should be spread everywhere until she is found,” he said.
