DEKYAS NEWS World Breaking News and Trusted Source
Related Articles
Israel said on Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found. The UAE Ministry of Interior later said authorities have arrested three perpetrators involved in the murder of Zvi Kogan.
The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel “will act by all means to seek justice from the criminals responsible for his death.” Israeli authorities did not say how they determined Kogan's death was a “horrific anti-Semitic terrorist incident” and did not provide additional details.
Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a kosher supermarket in Dubai, where Israelis have flocked to trade and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.
The agreement endures through more than a year of rising regional tensions, sparked by Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. But Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the militant group Hezbollah, have fueled anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the UAE.
Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah, has also threatened reprisals against Israel following a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment. However, senior diplomat Anwer Gargash wrote on the social platform
Early on Sunday, the UAE state news agency WAM acknowledged Kogan's disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge that he held Israeli citizenship, calling him only Moldovan. The Emirates' Interior Ministry described Kogan as “missing and out of contact.”
“Specialized authorities immediately started search and investigation operations after receiving the report,” the Interior Ministry said.
The ministry later said three “perpetrators” had been arrested “in record time” without providing additional details.
Netanyahu told a regular cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was “deeply shocked” by Kogan's disappearance and death. He said he appreciated the UAE's cooperation in the investigation and that ties between the two countries would be further strengthened.
Israel's largely ceremonial President Isaac Herzog condemned the alleged killing and thanked Emirati authorities for “their swift action.” He said he trusts they will “work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Israel also warned again against all non-essential travel to the Emirates following Kogan's killing.
“There are concerns that a threat still exists against Israelis and Jews in the area,” said a government warning on Sunday.
Burgeoning Jewish community in the UAE
Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of New York City. It said he was last seen in Dubai. The UAE has a growing Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher dining.
Rimon Market, a kosher supermarket Kogan managed on Dubai's busy Al Wasl Road, was closed on Sunday. As wars roiled the region, the store was the target of online protests by supporters of the Palestinians. Mezuzahs – religious pieces of parchment – on the front and back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist passed by on Sunday.
Kogan's wife, Rivky, is a US citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The UAE is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.
