A senior Emirati official flew to Israel on Friday especially to pay a condolence visit to the family of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan, who was killed in an apparent terror attack in the United Arab Emirates, Hebrew-language media reported.
Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaim, a member of the UAE’s Federal Supreme Council, attended the shiva in Kfar Chabad, where he told relatives of the murdered man that the UAE is committed to “openness and peace,” and vowed that Kogan’s legacy will endure.
“We will never allow extremists to separate us,” he said.
Kogan, a 28-year-old UAE-based rabbi, went missing last Thursday and was found dead by security services on Sunday.
Israeli officials have said Kogan was targeted because he was Jewish and branded his killing as an antisemitic terror attack. Israeli agencies are assisting in the investigation.
Senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, have thanked Emirati authorities for their swift action on the case, and vowed that the killing will not damage ties between the nations.
ד”ר עלי רשיד אל נעימי, מהמועצה הלאומית הפדרלית של איחוד האמירויות הערביות ויו”ר ועדת ענייני ההגנה, הפנים והחוץ, הגיע מהאמירויות לשבעה של הרב צבי קוגן ז”ל, כדי להביע את תנחומיו הכנים בפני משפחתו של הרב. ד”ר נעימי הדגיש כי איחוד האמירויות תמשיך לדגול בדו-קיום, ולעולם לא תאפשר… pic.twitter.com/7jIrSBV9QR
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) November 29, 2024
The circumstances of Kogan’s death have not been disclosed and it is unclear if Emirati authorities have established a motive.
Earlier this week, the UAE published the names and photographs of three suspects it is holding in the murder. All three men are Uzbek nationals, according to the UAE Interior Ministry — Olimpi Toirovich, 28; Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28; and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33. They were arrested in Turkey.
The UAE described the three as “the perpetrators of the murder of the Moldovan citizen.” Kogan held dual Israeli-Moldovan citizenship.
Family and friends attend the funeral of Rabbi Zvi Kogan who was murdered in the United Arab Emirates, in Jerusalem, November 26, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
According to Kan, Israeli officials believe that Kogan’s killing was not necessarily carried out on behalf of Iran, but that it was a terror attack.
Kogan worked in the UAE for Chabad, which seeks to support Jewish life for thousands of Jewish visitors and residents in the Gulf Arab state.
He had been living in the UAE for several years. Last Thursday, he vanished in Dubai, where he ran a kosher grocery store, and his body was found on Sunday in the Emirati city of Al Ain, which borders Oman, around 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Abu Dhabi.
He was buried at Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery.
