A rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found dead in what the Israeli government described as a “heinous anti-Semitic terrorist incident.”
Zvi Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan who ran a kosher store in Dubai, disappeared on Thursday and was suspected of having been kidnapped.
His disappearance came as Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, had been threatening to retaliate after a wave of airstrikes Israel had carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
It has been reported that Mr Kogan’s car was found abandoned in Al Ain, about 150 kilometers from Abu Dhabi.
According to the Times of Israel, officials suspect that Iran activated Uzbek citizens and the terrorist cell has now fled the United Arab Emirates to Türkiye.
Israel will now “act with all means to seek justice for the criminals responsible for his death,” according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
The Emirati government did not immediately acknowledge that Kogan had been found dead.
Mr. Kogan is a Moldovan citizen whose family moved to Jerusalem. His wife, Rivky, is a U.S. citizen who lived with him in the United Arab Emirates and is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Zvi Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan who ran a kosher store in Dubai, disappeared on Thursday and was suspected of having been kidnapped.
The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel “will act with all means to seek justice for the criminals responsible for his death.”
The Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism, said Kogan was last seen in Dubai.
He described Mr. Kogan as an emissary from the branch, which is based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York.
Early Sunday, the United Arab Emirates’ state news agency WAM reported Kogan missing, but deliberately did not acknowledge his Israeli citizenship and referred to him only as Moldovan.
The Emirates Interior Ministry described Mr Kogan as “missing and out of contact”, adding: “Specialized authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report.”
Rimon Market, a kosher grocery store Kogan ran on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Street, was closed on Sunday.
Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for “their swift action.” He said he is confident that they will “work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”