Yeros Kasau, sister of Haymanut Kasau, who has been missing for more than 900 days since disappearing in Safed in 2024 at the age of nine, hit out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet Chief David Zini for failing to summon the will to find her sister.
“When there is a will, we saw that things can indeed be done,” Yeros said in a sit-down with her father on Maariv’s Education on the Agenda podcast.
“We saw that others were found within two days,” she said, in reference to Israeli nationals Mali and Liel Yahalomi who went missing in Vienna on August 9 and were tracked down to Buenos Aires, Argentina, a week later.
“When there is no will, nothing gets done. Here is Haymanut – 904 days, and they haven’t found her. I want to ask them: What do we need to do so that you will have the will to bring her home?”
Yeros, who recently completed her National Service in the shadow of the search for her sister, called out Zini in particular, saying, “He has the ability to bring my sister back to me. That is what we are asking of him. I don’t want to lose hope.”
Kasau family continues the fight after 900 days
The Kasau family continues to fight so that awareness of Haymanut and the struggle to bring her back do not fall off the public agenda.
Haymanut has been missing since she was last seen outside the Safed absorption center office in February 2024.
“Nine hundred and four days she hasn’t been home,” Yeros said.
“She deserves to return home and live her life as other girls live. She deserves to study at school, to play with friends. My parents deserve to hug their child, and we deserve to hug our sister.”
Family slams government, requests establishment of Special Investigative Team
The family previously slammed the government, threatening to sue the Aliyah and Integration Ministry for “doing nothing.” A statement released by the family in June in response to police failures in the investigation concluded that, “The only way to achieve a breakthrough is the immediate establishment of a joint Special Investigative Team that includes Shin Bet elements. Only a combination of the technological and intelligence capabilities of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) can solve this mystery and bring Haymanut home.”
Haymanot’s parents, Benchi and Tesfaye Kasau, also addressed the discovery of the two women who went missing in Vienna, saying that alongside feeling joy that the case ended safely, they could not help comparing the efforts invested in that search with the handling of their daughter’s case.
“After Shabbat ended, we received the happy news that Mali and Liel Yahalomi had been found safe and well. Once again, a happy ending, except it is not our happy ending. Our Haymanot has been away from us for 902 days. 902 days have passed since our little daughter was abducted.
“We are once again asking Israel Police to transfer the investigation into Haymanot’s abduction to the Shin Bet... and that Police Commissioner Insp.-Gen. Danny Levy and Lahav 433 head Commissioner Meni Binyamin, who have failed to find any lead in the investigation, transfer the case to the Shin Bet because our girl is still not here.”
Jonah Davidov and Batya Giladi contributed to this report.