Three arrested over ‘homicide’ of Israeli Rabbi Zvi Kogan who was discovered lifeless days after vanishing in what’s been labelled an ‘abhorrent anti-Semitic terrorist assault’
Three people have been arrested in connection with the alleged murder of an Israeli Rabbi in Dubai.
Zvi Kogan, a 28-year-old Israeli-Moldovan who ran a Kosher shop in the Middle Eastern city, went missing on Thursday and suspicions started to grow that he may have been kidnapped.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking of Mr Kogan’s death at the start of a cabinet meeting yesterday, said that ‘the murder of an Israeli citizen and a Chabad emissary is an abhorrent anti-Semitic terrorist attack.’
The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday that it had arrested three suspects in the murder of Kogan, which Israel has called an anti-Semitic attack.
‘The ministry of interior announced that the UAE authorities have arrested in record time the three perpetrators involved in the murder’ of Tzvi Kogan, a statement carried by the official WAM news agency said.
The ministry described Mr Kogan as ‘a Moldovan national according to his identification documents at the time of entry into the UAE, where he lived as a resident’.
Mr Kogan’s body had been found by security services in the UAE, the Israeli prime minister’s office and the foreign ministry said.
The Israeli-Moldovan national was living and working in the UAE as a representative of the Chabad Hasidic movement, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group known for its outreach efforts worldwide.
Zvi Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan who ran a Kosher shop in Dubai , went missing on Thursday and there were suspicions he had been kidnapped
The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday that it had arrested three suspects in the murder of an Israeli rabbi, which Israel has called an anti-Semitic attack (stock image)
UAE normalised relations with Israel in 2020 alongside other countries including Bahrain and Morocco.
Despite the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the two countries have maintained close relations.
Mr Kogan’s death has prompted a strong reaction in Israel.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Kogan’s murder a ‘vile anti-Semitic attack’ that he said showed ‘the inhumanity of the enemies of the Jewish people’.
Herzog added in a statement that the murder would not ‘deter us from continuing to grow flourishing (Jewish) communities in the UAE or anywhere’.
Ayoob Kara, a former Israeli minister involved in promoting ties with Middle Eastern countries, called the killing ‘a surprise’.
Speaking outside a kosher market in Dubai which he said Kogan managed, and which was shut Sunday, Kara said: ‘Everything is beautiful here, everything is in control here.’
Neither Emirati nor Israeli officials provided any details about the circumstances of Kogan’s murder.
An Israeli official, briefing journalists on condition of anonymity, said Kogan’s body could be repatriated Monday.
Mr Kogan’s body had been found by security services in the UAE, the Israeli prime minister’s office and the foreign ministry said
The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel ‘will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death’.
The Chabad-Lubavitch movement said that he would ‘be laid to rest in Israel’.
His disappearance came as Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, had been threatening to retaliate after a wave of air strikes that Israel had carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
It has been reported that Mr Kogan’s car was found abandoned in Al Ain, around 150km from Abu Dhabi.
According to the Times of Israel, officials suspect Uzbek nationals were activated by Iran and the terror cell has now fled the UAE to Turkey.
Israel will now ‘act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death’, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office.
The Emirati government gave no immediate acknowledgement that Mr Kogan had been found dead.
Mr Kogan is a Moldovan citizen whose family moved to Jerusalem. His wife, Rivky, is a US citizen who lived with him in the UAE and is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism, said Mr Kogan was last seen in Dubai.
It described Mr Kogan as being an emissary of the branch, which is based in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighbourhood in New York.
Ayoob Kara (pictured), a former Israeli minister involved in promoting ties with Middle Eastern countries, called the killing ‘a surprise’
Early on Sunday, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency reported Mr Kogan’s disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan.
The Emirati Interior Ministry described Mr Kogan as being ‘missing and out of contact’, adding: ‘Specialised authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report.’
The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery shop Mr Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut on Sunday.
Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for ‘their swift action’. He said he trusts they ‘will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice’.
