United Arab Emirates arrests three suspects in murder of Chabad rabbi Zvi Kogan

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have arrested three people involved in the killing of Israeli-Moldovan Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the Gulf country, the Emirati Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

A ministry statement did not give further details on the identity of suspects or their role in the killing, but said the ministry would use “all legal powers to respond decisively and without leniency to any actions or attempts that threaten societal stability.”

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.

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 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, the report said.

Israel has called the murder an antisemitic terror attack.

The UAE statement called Kogan “the Moldovan citizen,” making no mention of his dual Israeli nationality or that he was Jewish.

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, the UAE statement said, an investigation was initiated, leading to arrests “in record time.” The full findings of the investigation would be announced upon its completion, it said.

“The United Arab Emirates, with all its institutions, will spare no effort to prevent any attack on its citizens, residents, and visitors,” said the statement, adding that “all security agencies work around the clock to protect the stability of society and ensure the sustainability of the highest levels of security and safety that have been established since the founding of the state.”

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 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 the 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.

Travel warning

Israeli authorities reissued their recommendation against all non-essential travel to the UAE and said visitors now there should minimize movement, remain in secure areas, and avoid visiting places associated with Israel and Jewish populations.

Israelis have flocked to Dubai for commerce and tourism since the Emirates and Israel forged diplomatic ties under a 2020 US-brokered agreement, dubbed the Abraham Accords.

The UAE has a burgeoning Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher diners.

It has maintained the relationship forged through the Abraham Accords during the 13-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

However, the public presence of Israelis and Jews in the UAE has appeared to recede since the devastating Hamas cross-border attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and triggered the ongoing Gaza conflict, which has sparked protests worldwide.

Jewish community members in the UAE told Reuters that informal synagogues in Dubai were closed after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel over security concerns, with Jews instead gathering to pray at home.

The one government-approved synagogue in the UAE remains open in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital. There are no official synagogues in Dubai, the UAE’s biggest city and commercial hub.

There are no official statistics on the number of Jews or Israelis living in the country, but estimates from Jewish groups suggest the community numbers in the several thousand.