Knesset panel marks somber 2-year anniversary of Haymanut Kasau’s disappearance

By Ariela Karmel

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

25 February 2026, 12:51 pm

1 Edit

Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Family members and friends of missing girl Haymanut Kasau attend a hearing of the Knesset Diaspora Affairs Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 25, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs committee holds a special session marking the two-year anniversary of the disappearance of 9-year-old Haymanut Kasau, in what appears to be the sole recognition of the day by members of the Knesset or government.

“We mark with sorrow two years since Haymanut’s disappearance,” says committee chair and Democrats MK Gilad Kariv, noting that this is the 15th discussion the committee has held on the matter.

Kasau was last seen on February 25, 2024, in Safed on security camera footage at 7:45 p.m. handing out municipal election leaflets outside the Jewish Agency absorption center, where she had lived since immigrating with her family from Ethiopia three years earlier.

Little to no progress has been made in Kasau’s case over the past two years. Her case was transferred in December by the Israel Police to the Lahav 433 Major Crimes Unit. A representative at the committee says that the investigation team is “still in the initial stages of reviewing the material” from the last two years.

Kasau’s parents, who have led the campaign to raise awareness about their daughter, address the committee in tears, via an Amharic translator, demanding that her case be transferred to the Shin Bet.

“We are requesting that the case be transferred to the Shin Bet, which has more resources and capabilities, until Haymanut is returned,” says Kasau’s father, Tesfai Kasau. “My daughter has been kidnapped for two years, and there is no new information about her. The tears in our eyes have run dry, and our hearts bleed.”

MK Tzega Melaku, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, expresses disappointment that the government has not done more to raise awareness about Haymanut.

“I am ashamed to sit here and ask the Kasau family for forgiveness that we have still not found your daughter. I regret that we have still not seen a government-led campaign to raise awareness about Haymanut’s disappearance,” she says.

No other member of the Likud party, government or coalition has commented on the anniversary as of yet, nor is it being observed by the wider Knesset.

A protest will be held outside the Aliyah and Integration Ministry in Jerusalem at 2 p.m. to mark the anniversary and protest the failure to find Kasau, led by various organizations.