Jerusalem, 7 October, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Mali and Liel Yahalomi, the Israeli mother and daughter whose disappearance abroad launched an international search, landed safely in Israel Wednesday after flying from Athens to Tel Aviv.
The two had disappeared in August while in Europe and were later located in Argentina, where Israeli police determined they were not in danger and had left voluntarily.
Their return came amid a dramatic case of mistaken identity. Israeli authorities were initially told that Yahalomi and her daughter had been arrested in Namibia with forged passports. Further checks established that the detained women were actually two Iranian nationals, apparently a mother and daughter, who had claimed to be Israeli. A Chabad emissary who visited them in custody said they spoke Persian and did not know Hebrew.
The Yahalomis were therefore never detained in Namibia and have now returned to Israel.
