Three men suspected of kidnapping and murdering an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi in the United Arab Emirates have been arrested and presented to the media.
The UAE Ministry of Interior issued a statement identifying the men, two of whom were 28 years old and the third was 33, all from Uzbekistan, and released images showing each of the three men handcuffed and blindfolded. bandaged.
Emirati authorities are continuing an investigation, the statement said, without saying whether the men – named Azizi Kamilovic, Olimboy Tohirovich and Makhmudjon Abdurakhim – had been charged.
Yesterday the body of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a 28-year-old who lived and worked in the United Arab Emirates, was discovered.
He was reported missing on Thursday and an Israeli official said Kogan is believed to have been last seen in Dubai.
Emirati authorities have not said whether they have established a motive, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it was an “abhorrent anti-Semitic terrorist act” and an Israeli official has said Kogan is believed to have been targeted because he was Jewish.
(From left to right) Azizi Kamilovic, Olimboy Tohirovich and Makhmudjon Abdurakhim are all Uzbek citizens, the UAE Ministry of Interior said on Monday.
Zvi Kogan, an Israeli rabbi, outside a supermarket in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on November 18, 2024.
A 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 alleged murder has shaken the UAE’s Jewish community, which Jewish groups estimate numbers to number several thousand.
Kogan was a resident of the United Arab Emirates and also a Moldovan citizen, according to local authorities.
He lived in the United Arab Emirates for several years, working with the New York-based Orthodox Jewish Chabad movement, involved in outreach to the Jewish community.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog echoed Netanyahu’s statement, calling Kogan’s murder a “vile anti-Semitic attack” that he said showed “the inhumanity of the enemies of the Jewish people.”
Herzog added in a statement that the killing would not “deter us from continuing to grow flourishing (Jewish) communities in the UAE or anywhere else.”
Ayoob Kara, a former Israeli minister involved in promoting ties with Middle Eastern countries, called the killing “a surprise.”
Speaking outside a kosher market in Dubai that she said Kogan ran and which was closed on Sunday, Kara said: “Everything is beautiful here, everything is under control here.”
He continued to speculate that entities in Iran may have been involved in the assassination. Tehran later denied any involvement.
Israeli agencies are participating in the investigation, an Israeli official confirmed yesterday.
An Israeli official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity this morning, said Kogan’s body could be repatriated later today.
Kogan was a resident of the United Arab Emirates and also a Moldovan citizen, according to local authorities.
The United Arab Emirates said on Sunday it had arrested three suspects in the murder of an Israeli rabbi, which Israel called an anti-Semitic attack (file image)
Ayoob Kara (pictured), a former Israeli minister involved in promoting ties with Middle Eastern countries, called the killing “a surprise.”
Meanwhile, Moldova’s Foreign Ministry has said it is in contact with authorities in the United Arab Emirates.
Uzbekistan’s embassy in Abu Dhabi did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Reuters via email.
The UAE ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, has said Kogan’s murder was a crime against the Gulf Arab country, which is located on the Arabian Peninsula and across the Gulf from Iran.
The Israeli and Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates has become more visible since 2020, when the Gulf Arab country established official ties with Israel under a deal brokered by the United States.
The United Arab Emirates has maintained ties with Israel amid the 13-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
But Israelis and Jews have been less evident in public since the deadly Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that sparked the war, which sparked protests around the world.