Chabad Rabbi in Namibia Says Detained Women Are Not Mali and Liel Yahalomi

A report that Mali and Liel Yahalomi were detained in Namibia while carrying forged passports is now in doubt. Rabbi Yosef Rahimi of Chabad in Namibia, who went to the police station to visit the two detainees, says he saw them himself and that they were not the Israeli mother and daughter at all.

Rabbi Rahimi said: "I brought food and water for the mother and daughter, thinking they were Liel and Mali. I arrived at the police station and it turned out they were not them. I saw them in person; it was not them."
According to him, the initial information he received indicated that two Israeli women, a mother and her daughter, were being held at the police station. But when he arrived and met the detainees, he said he realized they were two different women.

Rahimi told the mako website: "I came to visit the two women in the police detention cell. It turned out they were two Iranian citizens, a 14-year-old girl and a mother around 40. They did not know a single word of Hebrew; they spoke to me a little in English and Persian, and they were not Mali and Liel Yahalomi. These were the only two women identified by the local police as Israeli citizens because they were carrying forged Israeli passports."

For now, there has been no official confirmation from authorities in Namibia or Israel that the report of Mali and Liel's detention was mistaken, and the details are still being examined.

Mali and Liel left Israel in August as part of a pre-planned move, at the end of which they hoped to cut off contact and start over outside Israel. They first flew to Prague, continued by train to Vienna, and contact with them was later lost; they did not show up for their return flight to Israel.

Their family members, who were unaware of their plans, feared for their safety. As a result, Israel Police launched a broad search operation in cooperation with law enforcement and security agencies outside Israel. During the search, it emerged that the mother and daughter had continued their journey beyond Europe until they were eventually located in Argentina.

An Israel Police representative then met the two on a bus in Argentina and questioned them to ensure they were not in danger and that there was no suspicion of criminal activity. Mali and Liel made clear that they had cut off contact of their own free will and were not in danger. It later emerged that Mali's departure was connected to debts that had accumulated to more than 200,000 shekels.