Everything we know about the rabbi missing in UAE who Israel says was murdered

A rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been murdered in a “heinous terror incident”, the Israeli government has said.

Zvi Kogan, a 28-year-old Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who ran a Kosher shop in Dubai, went missing on Thursday - with suspicions raised he had been kidnapped.

Israel “will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death”,  a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said.

Here is what we know so far:

The Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism whom Mr Kogan worked for, said he was last seen in Dubai.

The Emirati government has provided no immediate acknowledgement that Mr Kogan had been found dead.

Early on Sunday, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency reported Mr Kogan’s disappearance, but did not state he held Israeli citizenship and only referred to him as being Moldovan.

The Emirati Interior Ministry has described Mr Kogan as being “missing and out of contact”.

“Specialised authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report,” the ministry added.

The Chabad movement’s official website states that Mr Kogan helped to widen Judaism in the Gulf state - with Mr Kogan making kosher food more accessible and setting up the first Jewish education centre in the area.

Chabad seeks to build links with non-affiliated and secular Jews or other sects of Judaism. According to its website, the group's branch in the UAE supports thousands of Jewish visitors and residents.

Mr Kogan’s wife, Rivky, is a US citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

In a statement, Israel’s prime minister said: "The state of Israel will use all means at its disposal to bring the criminals responsible for his death to justice”.

Israel said the rabbi had been killed in what they branded a “heinous antisemitic terror incident”.

The authorities reissued their recommendation against all non-essential travel to the UAE. They said visitors currently there should minimise movement, remain in secure areas and avoid visiting businesses, gathering places and entertainment venues associated with Israel and Jewish populations.

The UAE's Israeli and Jewish community has grown more visible since 2020, when the nation became the most prominent Arab state in three decades to establish formal ties with Israel under a US-brokered agreement, which was called the Abraham Accords.

The UAE has maintained the relationship during the 13-month-long Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

But the public presence of Israelis and Jews in the UAE appears to have retreated since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into the country, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250 on 7 October 2023.

While local health officials recently said the death toll in the Gaza Strip from the war has surpassed 44,000. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.

Jewish community members told Reuters that informal synagogues in Dubai were closed after the 7 October attack due to security concerns, with Jews instead gathering in small groups at each others' houses for prayers and Shabbat services.

The one government-approved synagogue in the UAE remains open in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital. There are no official synagogues in Dubai, the UAE's biggest city and commercial hub.

There are no official statistics on the number of Jews or Israelis living in the country, but estimates from Jewish groups suggest the community numbers in the several thousand.

Jews have lived in the UAE for decades and largely practiced their faith discreetly until 2019 when the government began publicly acknowledging them. 

Additional reporting from agencies