Killers of UAE Chabad rabbi intended to kidnap him to Oman – report
Report says plan by 3 Uzbek suspects to cross border somehow went wrong, Rabbi Zvi Kogan met ‘bloody end,’ his body left in car
The killers of Chabad rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates originally planned to take him hostage to neighboring Oman, before their plan went awry and they murdered him, US media reported Sunday.
The three suspects were driving the Israeli-Moldovan national toward the border, until their plan was somehow disrupted, and the car was left in the Emirati city of Al Ain near the border, with Kogan dead inside, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the investigation into the murder.
While the cause of Kogan’s death has not been revealed, friends and family told the news outlet that he came to a “bloody end.”
Kogan, a 28-year-old UAE-based rabbi, went missing in Dubai at the end of last month and his body was found a few days later. The UAE is holding three suspects over the murder — Olimpi Toirovich, 28; Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28; and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33 — all of them Uzbek nationals who were arrested in Turkey.
On Saturday, the National Security Council warned that the same “terrorist infrastructure” involved in the killing sought to carry out additional attacks in southeast Asia, especially Thailand, a popular vacation spot for Israelis.
The circumstances of Kogan’s death have not been disclosed and it is unclear whether Emirati authorities have established a motive. Israeli officials have said Kogan was targeted because he was Jewish and branded his killing as an antisemitic terror attack. Israeli agencies are assisting in the investigation.
According to Kan, Israeli officials believe that Kogan’s killing was not necessarily carried out on behalf of Iran.
Senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, have thanked Emirati authorities for their swift action on the case and vowed that the killing will not damage ties between the nations.
Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaim, a member of the UAE’s Federal Supreme Council who attended Kogan’s shiva in Kfar Chabad, told relatives of the murdered man that the UAE is committed to “openness and peace,” and vowed that the rabbi’s legacy would endure.
“We will never allow extremists to separate us,” he said.
Kogan worked in the UAE for Chabad, which seeks to support Jewish life for thousands of Jewish visitors and residents in the Gulf Arab state.
He was buried at Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery.
