UAE arrests 3 after missing rabbi found dead; Israel warns the Jews there to be careful

Israel said on Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates was found. The UAE Ministry of Interior later said authorities had arrested three criminals involved in Zvi Kogan's murder.

A statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel “will do everything possible to seek justice for the criminals who killed Israel.” Israeli authorities did not say how they determined Kogan's death was a “serious terrorist incident” and did not provide further details.

Kogan, 28, an Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, owned a grocery store in Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for trade and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.

The deal ends more than a year of heightened tensions sparked by a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel. But Israel's devastating revenge in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting the terrorist group Hezbollah, have sparked anger among Emiratis, Arab citizens and others living in the UAE.

Iran, which backs Hamas and Hezbollah, has also threatened to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes against Israel in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.

The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment. However, Emirati embassy official Anwer Gargash wrote on social media site X in Arabic on Sunday that “the UAE will always be a home of safety, a place of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence and a beacon of progress, pride and progress.”

Early on Sunday, the UAE-owned WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan's disappearance but denied that he held Israeli citizenship, calling him only Moldovan. The Emirati Ministry of Interior described Kogan as “missing and incommunicado.”

“Special authorities immediately started search and investigation operations after receiving the report,” said the Ministry of Interior.

The minister later said the three “perpetrators” were arrested “in record time” without giving further details.

Netanyahu told a regular cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was “deeply shocked” by Kogan's disappearance and death. He said he appreciates the cooperation of the UAE in the investigation and that the relationship between these countries will continue to be strengthened.

Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the alleged killings and thanked the Emirati authorities for their “quick action.” He said he hoped that “they will work hard so that the perpetrators will face the law.”

Israel also warned against all non-essential travel to the Emirates after Kogan's murder.

“There is concern that there is still a threat against Israel and Jews in the area,” said a government warning issued on Sunday.

The growth of the Jewish community in the UAE

Kogan was a representative of the Chabad Lubavitch organization, the most prominent and conservative branch of Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City. It is said that he was last seen in Dubai. The UAE has a growing Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses serving kosher meals.

Rimon Market, a grocery store owned by Kogan on Dubai's busy Al Wasl Road, was closed on Sunday. As wars have engulfed the region, the store has been the target of online protests by pro-Palestinians. Mezuzahs — religious pieces of leather — at the market's front and back doors appeared to have been removed when an Associated Press reporter stopped by Sunday.

Kogan's wife, Rivky, is an American citizen living with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 attack in Mumbai.

The UAE is the governing body of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.