Shin Bet confirms joining police probe into case of missing girl Haymanut Kasau

The Shin Bet confirmed on Tuesday that it is helping police search for Haymanut Kasau, who disappeared at age 9 from an absorption center in Safed more than two years ago after her family moved to Israel from Ethiopia.

“Following appeals from police officials, and after consultation and approval of all relevant parties, the Shin Bet is helping carry out actions to support the investigation of the disappearance of Haymanut Kasau,” the Shin Bet said in a statement, adding that “by the nature of things” it can’t elaborate on the type or scale of the agency’s assistance in the police investigation.

The confirmation came the same day that President Isaac Herzog met with Kasau’s family at his residence in Jerusalem, and said Shin Bet chief David Zini told him recently that “the Shin Bet has entered the picture following a recent appeal from the Israel Police.”

“The Shin Bet is involved in the case and is entering with full force to contribute in every way to finding Haymanut,” Herzog said Tuesday, according to a statement from his office.

“Haymanut is the daughter of the entire people of Israel, and all of Israel is deeply concerned for her,” Herzog told her family during their meeting. “The State of Israel is making every effort to locate Haymanut using all the tools at its disposal. This is a top priority for law enforcement.”

During the meeting, Haymanut’s father, Tesfai, said that the family has “made every effort and met with all the relevant authorities. We are demanding Shin Bet involvement as soon as possible,” according to Herzog’s office.

He added that the family believes they have faced “difficulties and discrimination” in pursuing the case “because of language barriers or because of skin color.”

Kasau’s family has long demanded the Shin Bet get involved in the case, and repeatedly alleged racism in the lack of progress in locating the young girl.

In February this year, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara approved the Shin Bet’s involvement in the investigation, but the girl’s family said the intelligence agency had failed to act in the months since.

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

Since then, there have been no concrete leads or progress in determining how she went missing, who was involved, or where she was taken.

Her family has long insisted that the circumstances of her disappearance indicate she was kidnapped, and her father has called for it to be classified as a kidnapping rather than as a missing persons case, while accusing the government of not doing enough to find his daughter.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged earlier this year he would “personally get involved in the matter,” amid opposition calls for the premier’s office to directly oversee the investigation.