The Kassau family and the campaign to bring back Haimanot Kassau held a march and rally in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, 850 days after she was abducted. The organizers said the public cannot accept a young girl disappearing without answers, urging Israelis to help “save Haimanot” and bring her home to her family.
Haimanot’s sister, Yeros Kassau, said the event had originally been planned two weeks earlier, then postponed because of the war with Iran. She said the family debated delaying again because of a large protest scheduled for the same day, but decided not to postpone any further. Kassau said she hopes the community and the country will understand what the family is going through.
The family immigrated to Israel five years ago, and Kassau said they need people to see and feel their pain. “A family that cannot understand what else it has to do so that we are heard, so that we are seen, so that they feel the pain we feel,” she said, adding that public support would give them strength even despite the difficulties and traffic congestion.
Despite heavy traffic and the day’s complications, a large crowd came to the gathering point, including families of hostages Buchstab, Calderon, Zangauker and Bibas. Speakers were scheduled to include Haimanot’s father Tesfai Kassau, Avichai Brodtz, Yeros Kassau, activist Titi Aynao, Ayelet Goldin, Bat Sheva Yahalomi, lawyer Dror Matatias, and campaign leader Daniel Mehret. The artists Avri Zafnath and Orit Tshouma were also set to perform a song they wrote about the kidnapping, titled “Haimanot.”
