Tzvi Kogan, who went missing in the UAE this week, formerly served in the Israeli army [Credit: X]
Israel said on Sunday an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi and former soldier who went missing in the United Arab Emirates was murdered, in what it called an act of “antisemitic terrorism”.
“The intelligence and security authorities in the United Arab Emirates have located the body of Tzvi Kogan, who had been missing since Thursday, November 21,” the prime minister’s office and the foreign ministry said in a joint statement.
“The murder of Tzvi Kogan, of blessed memory, is a heinous act of antisemitic terrorism,” it said, adding that Israel would do everything in its power “to ensure that justice is served and that those responsible for his death are held accountable.”
Kogan was an emissary for the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Hasidic movement in the UAE. According to Israeli outlet Ynet, he had previously served as a soldier in the Israeli army’s Givati Brigade, whose members have been carrying out deadly military operations in the Gaza Strip since October 7 last year.
He was also an aide to Rabbi Levi Duchman, the chief rabbi of the UAE, who controversially normalised ties with Israel in late 2020.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had on Saturday said Israel was investigating Kogan’s disappearance in the UAE as a “terrorist incident”.
It issued a warning for Israelis to avoid any non-essential travel to the UAE, and advised citizens already in the Gulf country to take extra precautions.
On Saturday, an Emirati official said the foreign ministry was in touch with Kogan’s family and the Moldovan embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Emirati authorities had launched an investigation and were searching for the missing man, the official added.
The UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020, alongside other countries including Bahrain and Morocco, under the US-brokered Abraham Accords. The move drew major backlash and anger from Palestinians who saw normalisation as a betrayal to their cause.
Diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab nations remains a sensitive topic, particularly as Israel has been carrying out an indiscriminate military campaign in the Gaza Strip for over a year, killing over 40,000 Palestinians.
