Vienna police told Channel 14 on Wednesday there is currently no indication of third-party involvement in the disappearance of Mali and Liel Yahalomi. Additionally, cell phone signals from the two women were detected in Vienna on Saturday.
1+Channel 14’s Europe correspondent Nati Langermann reported that contrary to earlier reports, Mally and Liel Yehalomi did not order a Shabbat meal at Chabad House in Vienna, did not visit it or any synagogues in the city during Shabbat, were not registered there, and did not order a Shabbat meal at any of the city’s other kosher restaurants.
The Foreign Ministry and the consulate in Vienna announced Tuesday night that contact was lost with Mali Yahalomi, 50, and her daughter Liel Yahalomi, 23, who have been classified as missing since last Friday. The two were last seen near the central Naschmarkt area in the Austrian capital, and have vanished since.
1+Following their sudden disappearance, the Israeli embassy in Vienna and the Israeli Foreign Ministry got involved, issued an urgent public appeal for information, and are working with local Austrian law enforcement authorities to track them down.
Senior figures in the city’s Jewish community are presenting a different assessment from the concerns raised by the disappearance. According to them, there is currently no indication the two were harmed because they are Israeli or Jewish, and there is even a possibility they chose to disconnect temporarily of their own accord—a claim consistent with Vienna police’s indication.