Malli and Liel Yahalomi return to Israel after two months

The drama that began two months ago has come to an end: Mali and Liel Yahalomi, the mother and daughter who fled Israel and were located in South America, landed Wednesday afternoon at Ben Gurion Airport.

They boarded a flight from Athens, Greece, on their way back to Israel, and landed around 4:30 p.m. The family said the two returned to Israel in order to rehabilitate and that they want to "put the episode behind them."

The two were seen descending the aircraft stairs at Ben Gurion together, both wearing identical outfits. The landing came hours after reports, later proven false, indicated that the pair had been arrested in Namibia on suspicion of using forged passports. Earlier in the day, however, it became clear that the arrest was a case of mistaken identity, the detainees were an Iranian mother and daughter.

According to the information, Mali and Liel

Chabad shaliach: "I understood immediately—these are Iranians"

Rabbi Yosef Rachimi, Chabad shaliach in Namibia, sheds light on the unusual incident. According to him, he was notified overnight by immigration authorities about the arrest of "two Israelis," and immediately mobilized to help, 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, but in the end I managed to get in," Rabbi Rachimi recounted. "I looked at them, said 'shalom, boker tov', and then I understood immediately: these aren't Israelis, these are Iranians."

Rabbi Rachimi, whose father was born in Iran, addressed them in Farsi. "They looked at me and were in shock, apparently trying to understand who I am," he said. It turned out they were two Iranian nationals, a 14-year-old girl and a mother around 40 years old, who did not know a single word of Hebrew.

According to reports, the Iranian mother and daughter who were caught with forged passports told investigators they were Israeli. An Israeli police representative abroad joined the local police, received photographs of the detainees, and confirmed that they were not Malli and Liel, but imposters.

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 During the investigation, it emerged that Malli had meticulously planned the disappearance for over a year, she had withdrawn her severance pay from her pension fund a year earlier and used it to finance the journey to South America.

Malli and Liel Yahalomi, who went missing in Vienna (Photo: Courtesy of the Embassy)

Cell phone correspondence between the mother and daughter that was uncovered in the investigation revealed that Liel joined the plan of her own free will. The daughter wrote to her mother: "I will go with you anywhere." The two deleted applications from their cell phones and carried out additional actions designed to prevent tracking.

Israeli police are examining the circumstances of the arrest in Namibia but clarify that they are not involved in the investigation being conducted there. Police sources are trying to understand why the Iranian mother and daughter had to use forged passports and why they tried to impersonate Israelis.