"Soon She'll Celebrate Her Bat Mitzvah": The Outcry in the Knesset Over Haimnot Kassao

In the 32nd session of the Aliyah and Absorption Committee, two years and eight months after Haimnot Kassao's disappearance, the police admit there has been no breakthrough in the investigation. Her parents demand the case be transferred to the Shin Bet, and her mother charges: "Does skin color make a difference?" Committee chairman MK Gilad Kariv pledged to continue the search efforts in the next Knesset as well.

The Knesset's Aliyah and Absorption Committee held its 32nd session on the disappearance of Haimnot Kassao, two years and eight months after she went missing. At the session, the police admitted there has been no breakthrough in the investigation. Haimnot's parents, Benzi and Taspia Kassao, demanded that the investigation file be transferred to the Shin Bet, and her mother charged: "Does skin color make a difference?" Committee chairman MK Gilad Kariv said the committee had taken it upon itself to deal with the search issue and that Haimnot must remain at the top of Israeli society's priorities. Kariv announced that the committee would work with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Jewish Agency to enable the family to move to Jerusalem, as they had requested. He noted that the dedicated teams established to investigate the disappearance continue to operate, and that the committee had ensured there are no obstacles to information-sharing between the police and the security agencies. Kariv concluded that there is a moral obligation toward the family and that an advertising campaign to find Haimnot is a duty even if it does not bring a direct breakthrough.