UAE rabbi killed in ‘anti-Semitic’ attack, Israel says

An Israeli rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found murdered, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday, labeling his death a “heinous anti-Semitic terrorist act.”

Zvi Kogan, who worked in the UAE for the Orthodox Jewish group Chabad, which aims to support Jewish life for thousands of Jewish visitors and residents of the Gulf Arab state, disappeared in Dubai on Thursday.

“The State of Israel will use all means at its disposal to bring to justice the criminals responsible for his death,” the prime minister’s statement said.

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 he was waiting for the UAE to complete an investigation but blamed Iran for the killing.

“The only enemy (Israel has today) is terror and Iran which supports terror. The indication we have now is that this is the direction of the investigation,” said Kara, a member of Israel’s ruling right-wing Likud party who works to promote economic ties between Israel and the Arab world.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Kara said Kogan’s body would be sent to Israel for burial after the UAE completed its investigation.

Emirati and Israeli authorities have not said who was involved in the killing or what the motive might be.

The UAE’s state news agency said on Saturday that the Interior Ministry was investigating Kogan’s disappearance, but the Foreign Ministry did not comment on Sunday’s news that the body was that of Kogan, who also held Moldovan citizenship. discovers.

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, posted on social media on Sunday that the UAE would remain an “oasis of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence,” without directly referring to Kogan’s killing.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have reissued their recommendation against all non-essential travel to the UAE, saying visitors there should now minimize traffic, stay in safe areas and avoid visiting places associated with Israel and its Jewish people.

UAE Jewish community in ‘shock’

The UAE’s Israeli and Jewish communities have become more visible since 2020, when the country became the most prominent Arab state in three decades and established formal ties with Israel under a US-brokered deal called the Abraham Accords.

The UAE has maintained the relationship during the 13-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

However, the public presence of Israelis and Jews in the UAE appears to have diminished since Hamas’ devastating cross-border attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza conflict, which has sparked protests worldwide.

Kara said the Jewish community in the UAE was “shocked” by the news of Kogan’s killing, but that Israelis and Jews would still visit the Gulf country and build ties.

“I am sure that many Jewish people will continue to invest here. There is no way to stop this relationship and this cooperation,” said Kara, who is not Jewish and a member of Israel’s Druze minority.

Members of the UAE’s Jewish community told Reuters that informal synagogues in Dubai were closed after Hamas’ attack on October 7 due to security concerns, with Jews instead gathering to pray at home.

The only government-approved synagogue in the UAE remains open in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital. There are no official synagogues in Dubai, the UAE’s largest 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 thousands.

(Reuters)