Tesfaye Kasau, father of missing 9-year-old Haymanot Kasau, called on the National Security Committee on Tuesday to declare her "abducted" exactly a year after she was declared missing by the police, according to official Knesset records.
Haymanot 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.
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."
MKs from across politics come together
The committee meeting was convened by Religious Zionist Party MK Rabbi Moshe Solomon exactly one year after her disappearance, with the aim of re-energizing the search for her and unlocking new funding by having her declared "abducted."
"The state must do everything to trace Haymanot's whereabouts," Solomon said.
"Defining her as missing as abducted may generate additional efforts and tools." Likud MK Tsega Melaku, addressing the parents in Amharic, said that Haymanot is the child of all of us.
"I define her as abducted, and there is a meaning to the terminology - she is not missing; she was abducted within the country, and no one is talking [about it]. When it comes to underprivileged families and new immigrants [olim], there is no 'headquarters.' This incident has added to the community's distrust of state institutions."
Melaku referenced the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which has been a key element in applying pressure on the government to bring back the hostages held in Gaza.
His comments also highlighted the feeling of inequality and inequity felt by the Ethiopian community, in particular when the police are concerned.
Former aliyah minister and first Ethiopian-born Israeli minister National Unity MK Pnina Tameno-Shete said, "I want to believe that [the police] used all the available tools, including involving the Shin Bet. It is clear to me that we have lost precious time, and we must return to the starting point. From a social perspective, it must be said honestly, it's inconceivable for a nine-year-old girl to disappear and not remain in the public discourse, and we are still failing."
Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri echoed the sentiments, saying, "If it had been an Israeli girl not of Ethiopian origin, there would have been a much bigger outcry." He called for a reworking of the public CCTV system in order to address the issues unveiled by the disappearance.
Shas MK Semion Moshiashvili said, "Time is running out, but there is darkness in the matter. When this girl was kidnapped, the whole country was in uproar. It is important to keep it in the headlines so that the whole country knows that she is missing and that her family is struggling."
Ch.-Supt. Tomer Pinchi, an officer from the Galilee Police District, addressed the criticisms made by the committee.
"It is true that the lack of cameras made the initial investigation difficult from the moment the girl disappeared. The police, together with IDF and other bodies, used all the technological means at our disposal and even additional tools that cannot be specified. We collected every camera that was there, and special units investigated all of them, and no leads were found for the incident."
"Currently, we do not have anything that establishes an abduction, and there is no difference in the actions taken in defining a missing or kidnapped person. He added that national units were transferred to carry out a 'probable investigation' in the case to see if there is a direction that has not been examined. The Northern District has not for a moment taken the incident off the agenda."
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.