Rabbi Tzvi Kogan, the assistant rabbi to the growing Jewish community in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, was confirmed dead Sunday morning, apparently murdered by three Iranian agents from Uzbekistan who fled to Turkey.
The Chabad organization confirmed his death and asked people to do a good deed — a “mitzvah” — in his memory.
Rabbi Kogan had been missing since Thursday. Israeli officials contacted his relatives on Friday. There was reportedly some frustration among Israeli officials with the slow pace of investigation by UAE authorities, especially since Rabbi Kogan’s car — evidently driven by his assailants — had reportedly been stopped for speeding on the road to Oman.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement:
The UAE intelligence and security authorities have located the body of Zvi Kogan, who has been missing since Thursday, 21 November 2024.
The Israeli mission in Abu Dhabi has been in contact with the family from the start of the event and is continuing to assist it at this difficult time; his family in Israel has also been updated.
The murder of Zvi Kogan, of blessed memory, is an abhorrent act of antisemitic terrorism. The State of Israel will use all means and will deal with the criminals responsible for his death to the fullest extent of the law.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog added that the terrorist act “will not deter us from continuing to grow flourishing communities in the UAE or anywhere — especially with the help of the dedicated commitment and work of the Chabad emissaries all over the world.”
Chabad Lubavitch is a Hasidic movement that performs outreach to Jews of all backgrounds, and has become synonymous with the presence of Jewish communities of any significant size, anywhere in the world.
The murder of Rabbi Kogan took place almost sixteen years to the day of an Islamist terror attack on the Chabad House in Mumbai, India. Rabbi Kogan was related to Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in that attack, the Times of Israel reports.
The murder is also a significant blow to the UAE’s image as a safe and tolerant country. And it marks Iran’s return to purely antisemitic terror attacks, rather than attacks on Israel or Israelis.
Israel normalized relations with the UAE under the Abraham Accords in 2020. Since then, Jewish communities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have flourished. The country’s first synagogue recently opened at the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
