TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a “horrific act of terrorism.”
A statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “will do everything possible to seek justice for the perpetrators responsible for his death.” There was no immediate response from the UAE.
Zvi Kogan, 28, a senior Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, owned a Kosher store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for trade and tourism as the two countries forged ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.
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The deal came after more than a year of escalating tensions sparked by a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in northern Israel. But Israel’s fierce retaliation in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting the Hezbollah militia, has fueled anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the UAE.
Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah, has also threatened to retaliate against Israel after Israeli air strikes in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The Emirates government did not respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday morning, the UAE’s WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan’s disappearance but denied that he was an Israeli citizen, only calling him a Moldovan. The Emirati Interior Ministry described Kogan as “missing and out of touch.”
“Professional authorities immediately began a search and investigation upon receiving the report,” the Ministry of Interior said.
Israeli Prime Minister Isaac Herzog condemned the killing and thanked the Emirati authorities for their “quick action.” He said he hoped that “they will work hard to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Kogan was a representative of Chabad Lubavitch, a prominent and highly observant branch of Ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in the Brooklyn 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 serving kosher food.
Rimon Market, the kosher store operated by Kogan on Dubai’s Al Wasl Road, closed on Sunday. As fighting rages in the region, the store has been the target of online protests by Palestinian supporters. Mezuzahs on the front and back doors of the market appeared to have been torn down when an Associated Press reporter stopped by on Sunday.
Kogan’s wife, Rivky, a US citizen, lived with him in the UAE. He is the nephew of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The UAE is a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.
While the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iran’s intelligence services have kidnapped people in the UAE.
Western officials believe that Iran conducts intelligence operations in the UAE and hosts hundreds of thousands of Iranians living throughout the country.
Iran is believed to have kidnapped and then killed British Iranian citizen Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, although Tehran has denied any involvement. Iran also kidnapped German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 from Dubai, returning him to Tehran, where he was killed in October.
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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates