Yehalomi mother, daughter not arrested — flying to Israel

Mali and Liel Yahalomi, the mother and daughter who fled Israel roughly two months ago and were located in South America, were not arrested in Namibia. The two boarded a flight from Athens, Greece, on Wednesday afternoon and are on their way back to Israel, expected to land at Ben Gurion Airport around 3:30 p.m.

Initial reports overnight indicated the pair had been detained in Namibia on suspicion of using forged passports. The arrest was a case of mistaken identity - the detainees are not Mali and Liel, but an Iranian mother and daughter.

"I said shalom, and I understood immediately - these are Iranians"

Rabbi Yosef Rachimi, the Chabad shaliach in Namibia, sheds light on the unusual incident. He was notified overnight by immigration authorities about the arrest of "two Israelis" and immediately mobilized to assist, passing the information to the consulate in South Africa.

"I arrived at the police station with breakfast and asked to see them. At first they wouldn't let me in, but eventually I managed to get inside," Rabbi Rachimi recounted. "I looked at them, said 'shalom, boker tov', and then I understood immediately: these are not Israelis, these are Iranians."

Rabbi Rachimi, whose father was born in Iran, addressed them in their language: "They looked at me in shock, apparently trying to figure out who I am and what I'm doing there. I spoke to them a bit in Farsi to understand their situation. At least they got an Israeli breakfast out of it, I left them the tuna sandwiches, fruit and drinks, all kosher mehadrin."

Malli and Liel in Argentina (Photo: Israel Police Spokesperson)

A chain of errors and forged passports

How did Mali and Liel Yahalomi's names become entangled in the affair? Rabbi Rachimi explains that the detainees, who were holding forged non-Israeli passports, claimed during interrogation that they were Israeli. "Apparently, in this chain of errors, someone thought it was Yahalomi based on the detainees' claim, but it's definitely not them," he clarified.

Meanwhile, an Israel Police representative in Africa and the Middle East entered the picture and contacted Namibian police to clarify the details. After documents, identity cards and photographs of the detainees were transferred to him, a comparison was made with police records and the suspicion was completely removed. Police made clear that the women were imposters and confirmed definitively that they are not Yahalomi.

Malli and Liel Yehalomi, missing in Vienna (Photo: Courtesy of the Embassy)

Malli and Liel Yahalomi were declared missing last August after they disappeared in Vienna, Austria. The search for them spanned several continents and involved hundreds of investigators worldwide. During the investigation it emerged that Malli had planned the disappearance meticulously for over a year; she withdrew her severance pay from her pension fund a year earlier and used it to finance the journey to South America.