It has been confirmed that 64-year-old resident of Ashkelon who traveled to an Arab country three months ago has disappeared.

The man's relatives said that he has traveled to Yemen in the past and was arrested there. However, he was able to escape and return to Israel.

Yemen has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

The man made aliyah to Israel 20 years ago. He had been considered a “prisoner of Zion” after he was jailed for hanging an Israeli flag on his family's home in that country.

He has visited his country of birth four times, since making aliyah, using his foreign passport. The last time was in 2013, when he was arrested for three months on suspicion of spying for Israel.

Apart from its weak central government's official hostility to the State of Israel, much of the lawless country is under the control of virulently anti-Semitic Islamist groups, ranging from the pro-Iranian Shia Houthis to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The Foreign Ministry refused to comment.