Parents of a Missing Child Denied the Right to a Protest Tent in Jerusalem
On September 17, 2026, ACRI filed a petition with the Jerusalem District Court for Administrative Affairs on behalf of Tesfaye and Benchi Kassau, the parents of Haymanot Kassau, demanding that the family be permitted to set up a protest tent for one month near the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. The parents want to set up the protest tent as part of their ongoing efforts to find their daughter, who disappeared about two and a half years ago. Their appeals to the Municipality requesting permission to set up the tent near various government institutions, in locations where numerous protest tents have been set up over the years, were repeatedly denied, on the grounds that tents erected for extended periods could create sanitation, safety, and accessibility issues and interfere with the use of public space.
The petition argues that freedom of protest is a fundamental constitutional right, and areas near government institutions are key locations for exercising this right. The fact that a protest may interfere with daily life is not sufficient grounds for preventing it. While the Municipality may regulate the placement of protest installations, including tents, it must do so while safeguarding freedom of expression and the right to protest.
The Jerusalem Municipality’s decision does not identify any specific trouble or danger that the proposed tent is expected to create, but rather relies on general considerations and a blanket municipal policy. It is an infringement on the parents’ right to protest and make their voices heard before decisionmakers, and only adds to their unimaginable pain as they fight to uncover the fate of their daughter.
During the holiday of Sukkot, and while permission for the protest tent had not yet been granted, the family erected a sukkah opposite the Supreme Court in Jerusalem where it welcomed supporters. The Jerusalem Municipality responded by asking for the petition to be dismissed, arguing that the family had acted in bad faith by taking the law into its own hands, and that since the family had already achieved its objective, the petition was moot. ACRI's response was that the sukkah is not a protest tent; the family's sukkah was no different than the thousands of others throughout the city that went up for the holiday and would be dismantled at its end. The family was not abandoning their demand for a protest tent.
A hearing was scheduled for October 5, 2026. The day before, the Municipality offered the family a compromise: the family would be granted permission to set up a protest tent at the same location where it had erected their sukkah. The family accepted the proposal, and requested that the court dismiss the petition.
Administrative Petition 50435-09-26 Kassau v. Jerusalem Municipality
Attorneys: Oded Feller, Eden Gilad
The petition, September 17, 2026
For a full list of legal correspondence about this case, see here (Heb).
