Israeli rabbi feared kidnapped, possibly murdered after missing in UAE

UPDATE Nov. 24, 2024:

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry confirmed this morning that the body found in the UAE is that of missing Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan, Chabad’s emissary to Abu Dhabi.

The Prime Minister’s Office said, “The UAE intelligence and security authorities have located the body of Zvi Kogan, who has been missing since Thursday, 21 November 2024.”

———

Zvi Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan citizen who lives in the United Arab Emirates, has been missing since Thursday afternoon and is feared to have been kidnapped – and possibly murdered – by an Iran-linked terror cell.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) confirmed on Saturday that Kogan, who serves as the local emissary of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Chabad movement, was missing. The PMO stated that “based on information suggesting this was a terrorist incident, an extensive investigation was launched in the country.”

“Israeli intelligence and security agencies work continuously out of concern for the well-being and safety of Zvi Kogan,” the PMO added.

Ynet News reported that Israeli security officials are increasingly suspecting that Kogan was murdered.

“We know that he was followed at the kosher market he ran in Abu Dhabi. This week his traces disappeared. We understand that those responsible fled to Turkey. They did not find his body,” the officials said.

Contradicting these reports, The Jerusalem Post said Israeli authorities currently don’t have tangible evidence of Kogan’s state.

According to Israeli Channel 12 News, Israeli intelligence officials were sent to the UAE to participate in the investigation. Security officials told Walla News that Israel knew Iranian intelligence operatives were surveilling him.

“This is very serious. Those kidnapped from Dubai have often been taken to Iran,” commented Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran.

“The case of Jamshid Sharmahd looms large, who was also kidnapped from Dubai then taken to Oman and then onto Iran. Though the Iranians may fear an Israeli strike in response so they could take him to a third country where IRGC terrorists are active,” Brodsky wrote on 𝕏.

Sharmahd, an Iranian dissident, was kidnapped from Dubai and later executed by the Iranian regime.

In another post, Brodsky noted, “The regime in Iran may also choose terror against soft targets in revenge for October 26 as a way to ensure plausible deniability in the hope Israel would not militarily retaliate on Iranian soil at a time when it’s so exposed with degraded air defenses.”

As Chabad’s emissary to the UAE, Kogan led the remembrance prayer during the first Holocaust Day ceremony in the Emirates in 2021. The Gulf state made peace with Israel during the administration of then-U.S. President Donald Trump as part of the Abraham Accords in 2020, and has continued its diplomatic relations with Israel through 13 months of war so far.

Kogan has worked as an aide to Rabbi Levi Duchman, the chief rabbi of the United Arab Emirates. According to an Israeli who lives near the Chabad offices, Kogan and his wife are very active in the Jewish community.

“[They would] organize events, Friday evenings, meals. Really quiet and nice people. Shocked that in such a secure place this could happen. There are cameras everywhere here. It must have happened somewhere else,” he told i24 News.

After the peace with Israel was signed in 2020, tens of thousands of Israelis flocked to the UAE for holidays, with many testifying that they felt safe and welcomed.

The PMO, in its statement, noted that the National Security Bureau “issued a level 3 travel warning (moderate threat) for the UAE and “recommended avoiding non-essential travel to the destination, as well as taking increased precautions for those staying there.”