The United Arab Emirates arrested three suspects in the killing of Israeli-Moldovan Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the UAE’s Interior Ministry (MOI) announced Sunday.
Kogan was reported missing by his family on Thursday.
A ministry statement did not give further details on the suspects but said the ministry would use “all legal powers to respond decisively and without leniency to any actions or attempts that threaten societal stability.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denounced Kogan’s death as a “heinous antisemitic terrorist act.”
“The murder of the late Zvi Kogan is a criminal antisemitic terrorist attack,” the PMO said. “The State of Israel will act by all means and bring the criminals responsible for his death to justice.”
Mossad and authorities in the Gulf country had opened the investigation based on information that Kogan’s disappearance may be related to “a terrorist incident.”
“The Israeli mission in Abu Dhabi has been in contact with the family since the beginning of the incident and continues to support them during this difficult time,” the PMO and Foreign Affairs Ministry stated. “His family in Israel has also been informed.”
How was Zvi Kogan found?
Kogan’s body was found in the Emirati city of Al Ain, which borders Oman and is about an hour and a half from Dubai, though it is not clear if he was killed there or elsewhere, former Israeli Druze politician Ayoob Kara said.
Kara said he was waiting for the UAE to finish an investigation but blamed Iran for the murder.
“The one enemy [Israel has] today is the terror and Iran that supports the terror. The indication that we have now is this is the direction of the investigation,” said Kara, a Likud member who works to promote economic relations between Israel and the Arab world.
Information in Israel’s possession indicated that Kogan may have been under Iranian surveillance, reports said.Iran’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Kara said Kogan’s body would be sent to Israel for burial after the UAE finished investigating.
Reports said authorities suspect that he was abducted by three Uzbek nationals who subsequently fled to Turkey. Emirati and Israeli officials have not said who was involved in the killing nor what the motive might have been.
The UAE state news agency said on Saturday the interior ministry was investigating Kogan’s disappearance but the foreign ministry did not comment on Sunday’s news that the body of Kogan, who also held Moldovan citizenship, had been discovered.
N12 reported that Kogan had entered the UAE on his Moldovan passport, which left authorities to contact the Moldovan embassy for support instead of Israel.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, posted on social media on Sunday that the UAE would remain an “oasis of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence,” without making direct reference to Kogan’s murder.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities reissued their recommendation against all nonessential travel to the UAE and said visitors now there should minimize movement, remain in secure areas, and avoid visiting places associated with Israel and Jewish populations.
Maya Gur Arieh and Danielle Greyman-Kennard contributed to this report.
