UAE publishes prison photos of 3 suspects in murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan
Emirati Interior Ministry says the men, arrested on Sunday, are from Uzbekistan; trio, reported to have likely been extradited from Turkey, may face death penalty
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
The United Arab Emirates on Monday published the names and photographs of three suspects it is holding in the murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a UAE-based Chabad emissary whose body was found early Sunday.
Israel has called the murder an antisemitic terror attack. Chabad said Sunday that Kogan had been “murdered by terrorists.”
All three men are Uzbek nationals, according to the UAE Interior Ministry — Olimpi Toirovich, 28; Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28; and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33.
The images showed the men handcuffed and blindfolded, dressed in blue prison uniforms.
The ministry described the three as “the perpetrators of the murder of the Moldovan citizen.” Kogan held dual Israeli-Moldovan citizenship.
The suspects could face capital punishment, according to several Hebrew media reports.
Kogan, 28, who worked in the UAE for the Orthodox Jewish group Chabad, which seeks to support Jewish life for thousands of Jewish visitors and residents in the Gulf Arab state, vanished in Dubai, where he ran a kosher grocery store, on Thursday.
A plane carrying his body landed at Ben Gurion airport on Monday evening, a spokeswoman for the Israel Airports Authority told AFP.
Kogan’s funeral was set to take place at 11 p.m. Monday at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, following a procession from Kfar Chabad in central Israel, set to depart at 8 p.m.
His body was found in the Emirati city of Al Ain, which borders Oman, around 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Abu Dhabi, Israeli authorities announced early Sunday.
The Ynet news site reported early Sunday that Kogan’s car was found abandoned in Al Ain. It added, without citing sources, that there were signs of a struggle in the vehicle.
Officials suspect a number of Uzbek citizens recruited by Iran assaulted the rabbi and later fled to Turkey, that report said.
The three suspects were not arrested in the UAE, a Channel 12 report said Monday. The operation to find and arrest them spread across several countries, according to the report.
Ynet reported Monday that they were likely extradited from Turkey to the UAE, without Israeli involvement.
The UAE on Monday stressed “the determination of the competent security authorities to quickly take the necessary measures to uncover the details of the incident, its circumstances and motives, and to harness their human and professional capabilities, expertise and technical capabilities that led to the arrest of the perpetrators.”
The Emirati Interior Ministry had announced on Sunday the arrests of three people involved in the killing of Kogan.
Ministry of Interior: Security authorities identify the perpetrators of the murder of the Moldovan citizen and initiate legal proceedings.
The Ministry of Interior announced that the competent security authorities have begun initial investigations with the three… pic.twitter.com/f5eNwVvdCa
— وزارة الداخلية (@moiuae) November 25, 2024
Moldovan President Maia Sandu condemned the murder on Monday.
“We mourn the tragic loss of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Moldovan-Israeli citizen killed in the UAE, and strongly condemn this hateful act,” she wrote on X. “Hate has no place in our world. Our thoughts are with his family, the Jewish community, and all who grieve. We are in contact with Israel and the UAE.
The UAE’s Ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, said in statement posted on X that the US “mourns for Rabbi Zvi Kogan. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and community over his senseless death.” His murder “was more than a crime in the UAE – it was a crime against the UAE. It was an attack on our homeland, on our values and on our vision.”
An Israeli Foreign Ministry official told Reuters that Kogan’s body would hopefully be repatriated to Israel on Monday.
After Kogan’s family filed a report about his disappearance, a UAE statement said on Sunday, an investigation was initiated, leading to arrests “in record time.” The full findings of the investigation would be announced upon its completion, it said.
Kogan had entered the UAE on his Moldovan passport and was a resident there, said the UAE statement, which was published by the state news agency.
President Isaac Herzog condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for “their swift action.” He said he trusted they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
The White House late Sunday branded the murder a “horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence.”
“It was an assault as well on UAE and its rejection of violent extremism across the board,” said National Security spokesperson Sean Savett in a statement. He said the US was in contact with Emirati and Israeli authorities, offering its support. The spokesperson also praised the UAE for quickly arresting several suspects and called for those responsible to be held “fully accountable.”
In a message on X earlier Sunday, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement wrote that Kogan had been “murdered by terrorists.”
“We trust that the UAE will work with the countries in the region to bring the perpetrators to justice, and hold all those involved accountable for this act of sheer evil,” Chabad said, and urged every country where its emissaries serve “to ensure that terror finds no haven within its borders.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the killing a “heinous antisemitic terrorist act,” adding that Israel would do everything it could to bring those responsible to justice.
Tehran said it “categorically rejects the allegations of Iran’s involvement in the murder of this individual,” Iran’s embassy in Abu Dhabi said in a statement to Reuters on Sunday.
In Abu Dhabi since 2020
Kogan was a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen who had reportedly served in the Israel Defense Forces’ Givati Brigade.
He had been part of the Abu Dhabi Chabad chapter since Israel normalized ties with the UAE in late 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.
According to Chabad, Kogan worked to expand Jewish life in the UAE alongside Chief Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Duchman, including ensuring the wide availability of kosher food and opening the first Jewish education center in the country.
The Rimon Market, a kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut Sunday. As wars have roiled the region, the store has been the target of online protests by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters. Mezuzahs on the front and back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off.
Kogan’s wife Rivky joined him at the posting after their wedding in 2022. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was murdered along with his wife in a terror attack at the Nariman Chabad House in Mumbai in 2008.
According to Ynet, Kogan participated in the first-ever Holocaust remembrance day ceremony in the Gulf state in 2021, and led the Yizkor prayer during the event.
Agencies contributed to this report.
