Haymanut Kasau’s family petitions court to allow protest tent near PMO

ACRI attorneys argued that the Jerusalem Municipality rejected the protest tent request on general concerns rather than specific risks, failing to balance public interests with protest rights.

The Kasau family, with support from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), petitioned the Jerusalem District Court Thursday for permission to establish a protest tent near the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in the Government Complex in Jerusalem from September 23 to October 22, 2026, according to an announcement released Friday.

The family is seeking to raise awareness of the disappearance of their daughter, Haymanut Kasau, who went missing on February 25, 2024, at the age of nine, from the Tzfat absorption center where she lived with her family. She has not been found since.

Haymanut’s parents, Tesfaya and Benchi Kasau, have led a public campaign calling for increased efforts to locate her, including protests outside Lahav 433 offices and a march in Tel Aviv.

The family has repeatedly sought approval from the Jerusalem Municipality to establish a protest tent near government institutions. The municipality rejected their requests to set up tents outside the Supreme Court, near the Knesset, and on Gaza Street and Balfour Street opposite the Prime Minister’s official residence, where previous protest encampments have been held.

Municipality rejects request for protest tent, prompting court petition

On Wednesday, the municipality’s legal adviser rejected ACRI’s official request, submitted the previous day, to establish the tent near the Prime Minister’s Office at the intersection of Zusman and Kaplan streets. The municipality argued that long-term protest tents could create sanitation, safety, and accessibility issues and interfere with public use of the area.

Attorneys Oded Feller and Eden Gilad of ACRI, who filed the petition on the family's behalf, argued that the municipality’s decision relied on general concerns and broad policy rather than any specific danger posed by the requested tent.

Petition says municipality failed to balance public interests with protest rights

The petition argued that freedom of protest is a constitutional right of the highest order and that areas near centers of government are key places to exercise that right. It added that the possibility of some disruption to daily life is not, by itself, sufficient grounds to prevent a protest.

According to the petition, the municipality failed to properly balance public interests with the parents’ right to protest and demand answers from decision-makers.

"The Jerusalem Municipality cannot restrict this solely due to general concerns and sweeping policy," Feller and Gilad said. "In order to restrict freedom of protest, there must be a near certainty of serious and severe harm to public order or other protected interests, and that is not the case here."

"Therefore, the municipality must approve the request on its merits and allow the family to make its plea heard precisely in the place where it chose to do so," they added.