TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.”

The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel “will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death.” There was no immediate comment from the UAE.

Zvi Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a Kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of 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’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. But Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah militant group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the the UAE.

Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, has also been threatening to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.

As airlines avoid Israel, UAE’s FlyDubai and Etihad keep up flights for both diplomacy and dollars

Early 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.”

“Specialized authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report,” the Interior Ministry said.

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.”

Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City. It said he was last seen in Dubai. 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 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 the back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist stopped by on Sunday.

Kogan’s wife, Rivky, is a U.S. citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The UAE is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.

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.

CodeTemplarr:
After getting the beating of their lives in Palestine and Lebanon, this is the new Oct 07 pattern.
Random attack on Jews across the globe. It is time for Israelites to go back home and enlarge that tiny dot in a circle called arab world.

Botragelad:

That's the tactics of these Islamic terrorists. They're proper cowards, resorting to random attacks, hurtin' whoever dare speak against them. They can't get to their target directly, so they just lash out, regardless of who gets caught in the crossfire.

Now, there's millions of Muslims and Iranians living in Israel, Europe, and all over the globe, but you don't see Christians, Jews, or Israelis goin' around murdering random people or Muslims in Europe. See the difference?

So, should we start taking a leaf out of their book and start carrying out terrorist attacks on people we don't like or who don't share our religion? 🤷‍♂️

smokinloud:

Islamism is the greatest threat to modern civilization and what pains me most is that Europe is giving it breeding ground.

Botragelad:

Worse are the indigenous Europeans who think it's all cool and politically correct to try and integrate with Islamist terrorists.But, let's be real, these terrorists are all about conquering and spreading their twisted ideology.

It's funny, 'cause you can't even do the same in their own countries, but they take advantage of Europe's liberalism and end up ruining it for everyone else. It's like, they're running away from one mess, only to create another one in a different country.

And, when you call them out on their antics, they start shouting "Islamophobia" and tryin'lg to guilt trip you. But, we can't fall for that, no sane person should.
We have to keep it real and acknowledge that Islamist terrorism is a legit threat that needs to be taken seriously. No sugarcoating or woke nonsense, just straight talk!

odejimioflagos:
Israel is a terrorist state.

Botragelad:
Nlfpmod
nlfpmod

smokinloud:

Another Israeli Citizen Murdered in Tennessee

Aviv Brook, an Israeli locksmith in Memphis, was brutally murdered Saturday night while on a job. His family suspects it might have been a terror attack and is working to bring his body back to Israel.

The israel Foreign Ministry states the case is under investigation.

NOETHNICITY:
The rabbi was a terrorist

Botragelad:

Like the fake Palestinians? 🤷‍♂️

smokinloud:

Let's assume Israel is a terrorist state, does that warrant hunting down every Jew?!.

smokinloud:
The reason Israel needs a sovereign state. anti-Semitism is widely spread all over the world and the Jews need to be protected.

smokinloud:
The reason Israel needs a sovereign state. anti-Semitism is widely spread all over the world and the Jews need to be protected.

NOETHNICITY:
That’s him for you
He is an IDF genocidal maniac, just like the others