Israeli mother and daughter disappear during Austria vacation, sparking large-scale search

An Israeli mother and her 23-year-old daughter have disappeared during a vacation in Austria, prompting a large-scale search involving Austrian police, Israeli authorities and members of the local Jewish community.

The circumstances of the incident remain unclear. Mali Yahalomi, 50, and her daughter Liel, from the central Israeli city of Modi’in, disappeared in Vienna on Friday.

They were scheduled to fly home to Israel from Prague on Tuesday evening but did not show up for their flight. Their phones were later found near a Vienna train station.

Video footage shows the two women leaving their vacation apartment in Vienna several hours before they disappeared, apparently without anyone else accompanying them. Their belongings have also not been found in the apartment.

Israeli police have since imposed a gag order on the investigation. Authorities have ruled out a theory that Mali may have been involved in an embezzlement scheme at the bank where she works, but they have not determined whether the women were kidnapped or left voluntarily.

The case has prompted cooperation between Austrian and Israeli authorities, including Israel’s Lahav 433 police unit, while the Israeli Embassy in Austria and the local Jewish community have also appealed to the public for information that could help locate the women.

Israeli police have questioned members of the family, including Mali’s other adult children, her brothers and other relatives. Family members say they have not spoken with Mali since Friday evening, but investigators have so far found no leads.

Amir Rudnik, Mali Yahalomi's brother-in-law, told Radio 103 FM on Wednesday that the family "don't have much information. We have a contact person at the Foreign Ministry situation room, and we also have a representative from the consulate in Vienna. They've started checking, but so far there's nothing. They arrived in Vienna from Prague by train, spent the night between Friday and Saturday at an apartment hotel in Vienna, and their Google account shows that the phone was last seen in the area of a train station in Vienna."

“We have a family WhatsApp group; we're in touch every day, and every member of the family shares experiences and photos. She's 50, and she's a banker. Her daughter is 23. Mali also has an older son. We know that the return flight, which was yesterday, was from Prague to Ben-Gurion Airport. They were supposed to return to Prague and fly back home in the evening," he added.

The disappearance comes amid heightened concerns among Israelis and Jews traveling in Europe following a number of reported incidents of harassment and violence in recent weeks. However, there is currently no indication that those incidents are connected to the disappearance of Yahalomi and her daughter.

On Tuesday, an Australian Jewish couple posted a video of an encounter with an Irish man at a Paris supermarket in which he said he was “sorry Hitler didn’t finish the job” and threatened to “put a bullet in your heads” after the couple told him they objected to the Irish government’s support for Hamas and Hezbollah.

On Monday, Israeli Channel 12 News reported that two Israeli teenagers visiting a casino in Montenegro were confronted by a violent mob that chased them through the streets and assaulted them before they returned to their hotel and received assistance from police.