Two years ago, I arrived at the absorption center on Tzahal Street 9 in Tzfat, northern Israel.

It was the holiday of Purim, at the very beginning of the war. When emotions blurred together, and moving forward felt like the only way to avoid losing one’s sanity. Like many others, I was looking for something to hold on to, some small action that could create a sense of purpose. That is how I found myself distributing Purim gift baskets at the absorption center. A place meant to represent a beginning, a temporary home, a safe space for new immigrants.

But the air there was heavy. Not because of what I saw, but because of what was missing.

Heimnot Kassau had already been missing for nearly a month.

A nine-year-old girl, a new immigrant from Ethiopia, who disappeared from the very place where I was standing. There, I did not hear shouting. I did not see panic. Her name did not echo through the corridors. It was spoken quietly, almost in a whisper. There was no sense of urgency. Only a heavy, silent concern – one that remained confined within the building and never spilled outward.

Now, two years have passed. Only in recent weeks has the case returned to the headlines, following an announcement by Israel’s police commissioner that the case would be transferred to Lahav 433, the national unit responsible for investigating serious and organized crimes. It was an important decision – but a late one. Too late.

Heimnot is not a case that naturally commands public attention.

She is the daughter of a family of new immigrants, living in an absorption center in a peripheral city, far........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)