Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Jewish cleric who worked for an Orthodox Jewish group in the United Arab Emirates, has been found murdered after going missing in Dubai. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office denounced his death as a “heinous antisemitic terrorist act” and pledged to use all means to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Kogan, who held Moldovan citizenship, had been missing since Thursday and his body was discovered over the weekend. The UAE foreign ministry has not commented on the incident.
Chabad, the Jewish organization Kogan worked for, seeks to build ties with non-affiliated and secular Jews and other sects of Judaism. The group’s branch in the UAE supports thousands of Jewish visitors and residents.
The murder has led to Israeli authorities reissuing a travel warning against all non-essential travel to the UAE and advising visitors to minimize movement and avoid areas associated with Israel and Jewish populations.
The UAE’s Israeli and Jewish community has grown more visible since the country established formal ties with Israel in 2020, but the public presence of Israelis and Jews in the UAE has appeared to recede since a devastating Hamas attack on Israeli communities last month. Jewish community members have reported that informal synagogues in Dubai were closed due to security concerns, with Jews gathering in small groups at each other’s homes for prayers and services instead.
The exact number of Jews or Israelis living in the UAE is unknown, but estimates suggest the community numbers in the several thousand.
