UAE arrests three suspects in killing of Israeli rabbi
Three people have been arrested in the United Arab Emirates in connection with the alleged murder of an Israeli citizen, the Emirati interior ministry says.
Rabbi Zvi Kogan Pic: Chabad
The ministry did not give details on the suspects or say if they had been charged, but said all legal powers would be used “to respond decisively and without leniency to any actions or attempts that threaten societal stability”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had denounced the killing of the rabbi, Zvi Kogan, as a “heinous anti-Semitic terrorist act” and said Israel would do everything it could to bring those responsible to justice.
Kogan, 28, was a UAE resident and also a Moldovan national. He worked with the New York-based Orthodox Jewish Chabad movement and was first reported missing on Thursday.
His body was discovered on Sunday.
Emirati Ambassador to Washington Yousef Al Otaiba said Kogan’s murder was a crime against the UAE and “an attack on our homeland, on our values and on our vision”.
“We embrace peaceful coexistence. We reject extremism and fanaticism of every kind,” he said in a statement on X.
Emirati authorities have not said if they have established a motive but Israeli officials say Kogan was targeted because he was Jewish, without providing further details.
An Israeli foreign ministry official said all Israeli agencies were involved in the investigation and it was believed Kogan had last been seen at a Kosher supermarket in Dubai.
Kogan’s body was found in the Emirati city of Al Ain, which borders Oman, though it was not clear if he was killed there or elsewhere, former Israeli politician Ayoob Kara told Reuters in Dubai.
Kara, a member of Israel’s ruling right-wing Likud party who promotes economic relations between Israel and the Arab world, said there were indications that investigators suspected Iranian involvement.
The Iranian embassy in the UAE said it “categorically rejects the allegations of Iran’s involvement in the murder of this individual”.
Israel reissued a recommendation to citizens to avoid non-essential travel to the UAE.
The White House condemned the killing and said it was working in close co-ordination with Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE’s Israeli and Jewish community has grown more visible since 2020, when the UAE became the most prominent Arab state in 30 years to establish formal ties with Israel under a US-brokered agreement, dubbed the Abraham Accords.
The UAE has maintained the relationship during the 13-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
However, Israelis and Jews have been less evident in public since the devastating Hamas attack on Israeli communities of October 7, 2023, that triggered the Gaza conflict, which has sparked protests worldwide.
Kara said the UAE’s Jewish community was in “shock” at Kogan’s murder, but Israelis and Jews would still visit, build ties and invest in the Gulf country.
“No way to stop this relationship and this co-operation,” said Kara, who is not Jewish but a member of Israel’s Druze minority.
By: Alexander Cornwell and Crispian Balmer/Reuters
