Bank of Jerusalem Shares Plunge Amid Disappearance of Employee Mally Yahalomi

Shares of Bank of Jerusalem fell sharply by up to 12.39% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Thursday amid rumors surrounding the disappearance of Mally Yahalomi, a bank employee. The bank's CEO, Yair Kaplan, addressed staff in a letter stating that aside from her being an employee, there is no connection between the incident and the bank. He emphasized a gag order on the case and forbade sharing information about it. The bank also confirmed that no irregularities were found in its finances or assets following internal checks.

The disappearance involves two Israeli citizens, Mally Yahalomi and her daughter Liel, who have been missing since the previous weekend in Vienna, Austria. A court issued a gag order on the investigation. The family provided testimony to the Israeli police unit Lahav 433 and expressed frustration over recent police statements, claiming some information was withheld from them and that the last known use of their bank accounts was on August 3. The family also stated there is currently no basis to rule out a nationalistic terrorist motive.

Mally and Liel lost contact with their family on the evening of Friday, August 7, which is highly unusual given their prior communication during their trip. The investigation has been transferred to Lahav 433, with police representatives dispatched to Austria. Phone tracking placed them near a train station and park area in Vienna over the weekend, but no further location or credit card activity has been detected since. Authorities are also examining whether the women carried large sums of money or erased location data from their phones.