JERUSALEM/DUBAI – An Israeli rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found murdered, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday, condemning his killing as a “horrific act of terrorism”.
Zvi Kogan, who worked in the UAE for the Orthodox Jewish group Chabad, which seeks to support Jewish life for thousands of Jewish tourists and residents in the Gulf Arab region, disappeared from Dubai on Thursday.
“The state of Israel will use all available means to bring the criminals responsible for his murder to justice,” said the prime minister’s statement.
Kogan’s body was found in the Emirati city of Al Ain, which borders Oman, although it is not clear whether he was killed there or elsewhere, former Israeli Druze politician Ayoob Kara told Reuters in an English-language interview in Dubai.
Kara said she was waiting for the UAE to complete the investigation, but blamed Iran for the killing.
“The only enemy (Israel has) today is terror and Iran which supports terror. The only clue we have now is what the investigation says,” said Kara, who is a member of Israel’s ruling Likud party. to promote economic relations between Israel and the Arab world.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Kara said Kogan’s body will be sent to Israel for burial after the UAE has completed its investigation.
Emirati and Israeli authorities have not said who was involved in the killings or what the motive was.
The UAE national news agency said on Saturday that the Ministry of Interior was investigating the disappearance of Kogan, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not comment on Sunday’s news that the body of Kogan, who is also a Moldovan citizen, had been found.
Anwar Gargash, adviser to the UAE president, posted on social media on Sunday that the UAE will remain “a place of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence”, without directly referring to Kogan’s murder.
At that time, the Israeli authorities also issued their recommendations against all non-essential travel to the UAE and said that tourists should now limit their movements, stay in protected areas and avoid visiting places associated with Israel and the Jewish population.
UAE JEWISH COMMUNITY ‘SHOCKING’
The UAE’s Israeli and Jewish community has grown more visible since 2020 when the country became the most prominent Arab country in 30 years to establish formal relations with Israel under the US-led agreement, called the Abraham Accords.
The UAE has maintained ties during the 13-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
However, the Israeli and Jewish community presence in the UAE has been seen to decrease since the devastating attacks by Hamas across the border on Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023 which caused the conflict in Gaza, which caused protests around the world.
Kara said the Jewish community in the UAE was “shocked” by the news of Kogan’s murder, but Israelis and Jews would still visit and build ties in the Gulf country.
“I am sure that the majority of Jews (people) will continue to invest here. There is no way to stop this relationship and this cooperation,” said Kara, who is not Jewish and is a member of Israel’s Druze minority.
Members of the Jewish community in the UAE told Reuters that informal synagogues in Dubai were closed after the October 7 attack by Hamas due to security concerns, with Jews instead gathering to pray at home.
The only government-sanctioned synagogue in the UAE remains open in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. There are no official synagogues in Dubai, the UAE’s largest city and commercial center.
There are no official statistics on the number of Jews or Israelis living in the country, but estimates from Jewish groups put the community numbers at several thousand.
