Israel has vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the murder of a prominent rabbi in the United Arab Emirates, denouncing his killing as a “heinous anti-Semitic terrorist act.”
Zvi Kogan, who ran a kosher store in Dubai and worked for the Orthodox Jewish group Chabad, disappeared in Dubai on Thursday.
The 28-year-old's body was found in the city of Al Ain, which borders Oman, although it is not clear whether he was killed there or elsewhere.
The UAE Ministry of Interior said three suspects had been arrested, but did not provide details.
His disappearance came as Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah, had threatened to retaliate after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The Iranian embassy in the UAE said it “categorically rejects allegations of Iranian involvement in the murder of this person.”
A statement from Benjamin Netanyahu's office called Kogan's death a “heinous anti-Semitic terror incident” and said Israel “will act by all means to seek justice from the criminals responsible for his death.”
Kogan had entered the UAE on his Moldovan passport and was living in Dubai, the UAE statement said. His wife, Rivky, is a US citizen and lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (EPA)
The Chabad movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism, is based in New York's Crown Heights neighborhood.
Jews have become more visible in the UAE since 2020, when the country became the most prominent Arab state in three decades and established formal ties with Israel under a US-brokered deal called the Abraham Accords. Ties have been maintained throughout the 13-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
However, informal synagogues in Dubai were closed after Hamas' attack on October 7, with Jews instead gathering to pray at home amid heightened security concerns. One government-approved synagogue remains open, in Abu Dhabi.
Kogan's store was closed on Sunday. Outside, Israeli Druze politician Ayoob Kara said the UAE's Jewish community was “shocked” by news of Kogan's killing, but that Israelis and Jews would still visit the Gulf country and build ties.
“I am sure there are many Jews [people] will continue to invest here. There is no way to stop this relationship and cooperation,” said Mr. Kara.
Ayoob Kara outside the Rimon Market kosher store operated by Zvi Kogan (Reuters)
Kogan's body will “hopefully” be repatriated to Israel on Monday, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official said.
Although Iran was not mentioned in Sunday's public statements, Western officials believe Iran is conducting intelligence operations in the UAE and monitoring the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.
Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British-Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, although Tehran has denied involvement. Iran also kidnapped Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd from Dubai in 2020 and brought him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October.
Additional reporting from Associated Press and Reuters
