TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi missing in the United Arab Emirates had been found after he was killed in what it described as a “heinous incident anti-Semitic terrorist.
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.” There was no immediate comment from the UAE.
Zvi Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing Thursday, ran a kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis flock for trade and tourism since the two countries established diplomatic ties under the of the 2020 Abraham Accords.
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The agreement held during more than a year of growing regional tensions sparked by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in southern Israel. But Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah militant group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the UAE .
Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, also threatened to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes carried out by Israel in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The UAE government did not respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday morning, the UAE’s official WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan’s disappearance, but did not clearly acknowledge that he held Israeli citizenship, referring only to him as Moldovan. The UAE Interior Ministry described Kogan as “missing and out of contact”.
“Specialized authorities immediately launched search and investigation operations upon receipt of the report,” said the Interior Ministry.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for “their swift action.” He said he was confident that they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a large and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. He was last seen in Dubai. The United Arab Emirates has a thriving Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses offering kosher food.
Rimon Market, a kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was closed on Sunday. As wars ravage the region, the store has been the target of online protests from supporters of the Palestinians. Mezuzahs at the front and back of the market appeared to have been torn down when an Associated Press reporter stopped by Sunday.
Kogan’s wife, Rivky, is an American citizen who lived with him in the United Arab Emirates. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The United Arab Emirates is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms from the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish leaders in the United Arab Emirates declined to comment.
Although the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have previously carried out kidnappings in the United Arab Emirates.
Western officials believe Iran is conducting intelligence operations in the United Arab Emirates and monitoring the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.
Iran is suspected of kidnapping and then killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, although Tehran has denied involvement. Iran also kidnapped German Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 in Dubai, bringing him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates
