Israel says rabbi missing in UAE killed in 'heinous antisemitic terror incident'
Israel has said the body of a rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in a "heinous antisemitic terror incident."
A statement published by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel "will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death."
They did not reveal how Zvi Kogan was killed or how they determined it was a terror incident.
Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a Kosher grocery store in Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.
The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas' October 7 attack in 2023.
The UAE government has not directly commented on the killing but senior Emirati diplomat Anwer Gargash wrote on the social platform X in Arabic on Sunday that “the UAE will remain a home of safety, an oasis of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence and a beacon of development, pride and advancement.”
Early on Sunday, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan’s disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan. The Emirati Interior Ministry described Kogan as being “missing and out of contact.”
Kogan held dual Israeli and Moldovan citizenship.
“Specialized authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report,” the Interior Ministry said.
Netanyahu told a regular Cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was “deeply shocked” by Kogan’s disappearance and death.
He said he appreciated the cooperation of the UAE in the investigation and that ties between the two countries would continue to be strengthened.
Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for “their swift action.” He said he trusts they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Israel also again warned against all nonessential travel to the Emirates after Kogan’s killing.
“There is concern that there is still a threat against Israelis and Jews in the area,” a government warning issued on Sunday said.
The UAE has a burgeoning Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher diners.
The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut on Sunday.
As the wars have roiled the region, the store has been the target of online protests by supporters of the Palestinians.
Mezuzahs on the front and back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist visited the store on Sunday.
While the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE.
Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.
Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, though Tehran has denied involvement.
Iran also kidnapped Iranian German national Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 from Dubai, taking him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October.
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