Vienna

Mali Yahalomi, 50, and her daughter Liel, 23, have been missing in Vienna for nearly 1 week, prompting an investigation involving Austrian and Israeli authorities.

The 2 Israeli women were last in contact with their family on Friday, Augus...

Mali Yahalomi, 50, and her daughter Liel, 23, have been missing in Vienna for nearly 1 week, prompting an investigation involving Austrian and Israeli authorities.

The 2 Israeli women were last in contact with their family on Friday, August 7, shortly after arriving in Vienna by train from Prague. Their disappearance has since drawn in Austrian police, the Israeli Embassy and Israel’s Lahav 433 serious crimes unit.

A court imposed a gag order on parts of the Israeli investigation on Thursday, August 13, limiting what can be publicly disclosed.

Mali and Liel began their European trip in Prague on August 4. On August 7, they took a train to Vienna and checked into a rented apartment. At around 5:45 p.m., they sent relatives a video saying they had arrived safely. Their final message wished the family “Shabbat Shalom.”

The women are observant Jews and do not normally use their phones during Shabbat, meaning relatives initially had little reason to be alarmed when communication stopped Friday evening. They had also reportedly arranged to collect a meal from Vienna’s Chabad community but never arrived.

According to reports, footage showed Mali and Liel leaving their apartment on Saturday, August 8, apparently on their own. Phone location information reportedly placed their devices around Vienna’s central railway station and a nearby public area.

What happened after that remains unclear.

When no message came after Shabbat, relatives became concerned. After repeated attempts to contact them failed, the family reported them missing to Israeli police on Sunday, August 9.

The women were scheduled to fly from Prague to Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday night, August 11. They never boarded the flight. Reports said their Vienna apartment was subsequently found without their belongings inside.

No subsequent confirmed sighting, credit card transaction or other public trace of the women has been reported.

The Israeli investigation has since been transferred to Lahav 433. A senior Israeli police officer with Europol connections was dispatched to Vienna, while Austrian police, the Israeli Embassy and members of Vienna’s Jewish community are involved in the search. Family members have also traveled to Austria.

The search is complicated by Europe’s Schengen Area, where travelers can cross many national borders without routine passport checks. If Mali and Liel left Austria by land, their movement may not have generated an immigration record.

Austrian authorities have said there is currently no evidence pointing to a criminal event. Israeli investigators have also reportedly examined the possibility that the women left voluntarily, citing circumstances surrounding the apartment and phone location data.

The family strongly disputes that possibility. Relatives say suddenly cutting off contact would be completely out of character and argue that investigators should not rule out a criminal, antisemitic or nationalist motive.

Rumors linking Mali’s disappearance to her employment at Bank of Jerusalem were also examined. The bank rejected any connection between her work and the disappearance, while reports said allegations involving financial misconduct were ruled out.

On August 13, the Rishon LeTsiyyon Magistrate’s Court approved a gag order requested by Lahav 433 covering details of the investigation until September 13.

The trip was intended as a mother and daughter vacation surrounding Mali’s 50th birthday. As of August 13, neither woman has been located and authorities have announced no confirmed breakthrough in the search.