Rappers release protest song after 838 days without missing girl Heimanot Kassau

More than 800 days after Heimanot Kassau disappeared from a absorption center in Safed, rappers Avi G and Orit Tshoma have released a song demanding action and accusing the authorities, politicians, the media and indifferent influencers of failing her. Heimanot vanished at age 9, is now 11, and has a younger sister she has never met. Her case has produced no solid leads, police investigations remain stalled, and the family says no one in power is hearing the child’s plea.

Avi G, whose name is Avi Tzafnat, said the song grew out of his work at Beit Hanar, a facility that serves as an alternative to detention for teenagers. He said he had been teaching rap and music production there for six years when a boy named Kassahon Komia told him he could not sleep because of Heimanot and thought about her constantly. The two began writing a first draft together, and Avi said their work intensified after a suspect in Heimanot’s alleged abduction was arrested, though the case later remained unresolved.

Tshoma said she thought of cases such as the abduction of Yosef Shukmacher in the 1960s and asked why a modern, sophisticated country cannot find one girl. She said the song is meant to pressure the government, the Jewish Agency, which owns the absorption center, the police and the security company, and it was made with the approval of the Kassau family. A day before its release, the Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption reportedly committed about 400,000 shekels to a public-awareness campaign about Heimanot’s disappearance.

The artists argued that public pressure is essential. Avi said everyone has a meaningful platform and urged colleagues in every field to use theirs. Tshoma said history shows that things change only through public pressure, unless one is well connected. She also linked Heimanot’s struggle to that of former hostage Avera Mengistu, saying that if Heimanot’s status had changed from missing to kidnapped, the response would have been faster and not limited to the police. The song ends with a recording of Heimanot’s mother, Banchi Kassau, saying, “Do not think we are not looking for you. We are turning every stone to find you.”