Chabad Rabbi in UAE Kidnapped and Murdered, Iranian-Linked Terrorists Suspected
Jerusalem Post: “Authorities suspect that he was abducted by three Uzbek nationals who subsequently fled to Turkey.”
The Jewish rabbi, who was kidnapped and murdered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), may have been killed by an Iran-linked terrorist squad, the Israeli intelligence services believe.
Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the Chabad representative in the UAE, has gone missing since Thursday. The body of the 28-year-old rabbi was found by the local authorities early morning Sunday.
The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad was treating the incident as a terrorist act. “The Mossad announced an “intense” investigation in the Emirates after confirming that his disappearance was a terrorist act,” Israeli news website YNET revealed.
The intelligence agency “believed Iran used an Uzbek cell to abduct and murder Kogan, aiming to maintain “plausible deniability.” The identities of the suspects are known,” the new outlet added.
The three-member terror cell may have fled to Turkey following the murder. “Authorities suspect that he was abducted by three Uzbek nationals who subsequently fled to Turkey,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
The Iran-linked squad had been spying on the rabbi ahead of his disappearance, intelligence reports suggest. “Security sources suspect Kogan was murdered by operatives working for Iran, who reportedly surveilled him from his kosher grocery business in Abu Dhabi before escaping to Turkey,” the Israel Hayom newspaper said.
The Jerusalem Post reported the official Israeli response:
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have identified the body of previously missing Chabad emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Affairs Ministry announced on Sunday morning.
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.”
“The murder of the late Zvi Kogan is a criminal antisemitic terrorist attack,” the statement continued. “The State of Israel will act by all means and bring the criminals responsible for his death to justice.” (…)
“Israeli intelligence and security agencies are working tirelessly out of concern for Zvi Kogan’s safety and well-being,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office promised on Saturday. (…)
Kogan had only been married for a little over a year before his death. Before moving to the UAE, he served in the IDF. (…)
In response to news of the death, Chabad wrote “With great pain, we share that Rabbi Zvi Kogan, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Abu Dhabi, UAE, was murdered by terrorists after being abducted on Thursday.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Start of the Government Meeting:
"The State of Israel will use all means, and will deal with the murderers of Zvi Kogan, and those who dispatched them, to the fullest extent of the law."
Full remarks >>https://t.co/U7aV8SNVBf pic.twitter.com/bLMYYlMGum
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 24, 2024
Iran has been involved in similar incidents of kidnapping and execution in the region. The incident had “troubling echoes of the abduction by Iranians of German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd; he was kidnapped from Dubai to Iran via Oman and was eventually executed,” the i24NEWS noted Sunday.
Kogan, who also ran a kosher grocery in Dubai, had been a target of pro-Hamas online trolls in the wake of the ongoing Gaza conflict. “Kogan lived in the UAE with his wife, Rivky, who is a US citizen. He ran a kosher grocery store in Dubai, which has been the target of online protests by pro-Palestinian supporters,” the Sky News (UK) reported.
He is the nephew of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed by terrorists in 2008 attack on Mumbai Chabad House. Rabbi Gavriel and his wife, Rivkah Holtzberg, where murdered and their bodies mutilated in a coordinated Islamic terror attack that left 190 people dead, including six Americans.
Recalling Kogan’s contribution to the Jewish community in the UAE, the Chabag.org said in a statement:
Kogan, a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen, worked alongside Rabbi Levi Duchman, Rabbi to the United Arab Emirates, and other Chabad emissaries for several years in establishing and expanding Jewish life in the Emirates. Among the many milestones was the founding of the first Jewish education center in the Gulf, and making kosher food widely available. Kogan was joined by his wife, Rivky, after their marriage in 2022.
🕯️ Baruch Dayan Haemet
With great pain we share that Rabbi Zvi Kogan, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Abu Dhabi, UAE, was murdered by terrorists after being abducted on Thursday.
His body was recovered early Sunday morning, and his family has been notified.
Please do a mitzvah in… pic.twitter.com/UwKmGqu3YK— Chabad.org (@Chabad) November 24, 2024
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Comments
But, the vile, evil and stupid European leftist dhimmis and American Dhimmi-crats will lecture us that this murder was a byproduct of the fallacious and contrived grievances and victimhood-posturing of the Arab Muslim Fakestinian invaders from Arabia, and, not the direct product of 1,400 years of goose-stepping, genocidal Muslim terrorists’ and Islamofascists’ rabid Jew-hate and fanaticism.
“Iran has been involved in similar incidents of kidnapping and execution…”
Headlines from 1979 are accurate at the dawn of 2025.
By complete coincidence, I was in DC the day RR was inaugurated in 1980 and will be there on 1/20 this year. The day in 1980 was electric with news of the release of the Iran hostages coinciding with the return of a Strong Horse to the White House. Will something similar occur next year? I certainly hope so. I anxiously await the reckoning that the mullahs so richly deserve.
And screw Jimmy Carter for toppling the Shah in the first place.
1981.
And yes, Carter had a significant part in the Shah’s fall, but he also then gave the Shah shelter and refused to turn him over to the mullahs for so-called “trial”, which is the reason they took the embassy in the first place.
He also had a significant part in installing the communists in Nicaragua, because, like the Shah, Somoza was too icky for him. The concept of “our bastard” didn’t register with him. A real prig.
Dubai is not Qatar. They won’t tolerate something like this. It has marketed itself as the safest city in the safest country in the world, and they may be correct. There are a TON of westerners and Jews who live in Dubai because of its inherent safety, particularly young Israeli women. UAE has an increasingly capable intelligence apparatus that has largely been trained by US with ample support from retired US military and intelligence officers. They have a great deal of experience in covert operations from their involvement in the Yemeni war. My guess is these Uzbeks will be hunted down by the Emiratis long before Mossad can get to them.
Turkeys involvement also underscores the increasing problem Erdogan is becoming. With Turkey offering refuge to Hamas and now these murders as well and its already contentious relationship with Israel, I’m not sure how their continued involvement with NATO is tenable so long as Erdogan is in charge. Biden is trying to breath life back into the F-35 deal for Turkey. Trump, who’s already killed that deal, is going to have to kill it again. It would be a HUGE mistake to allow Turkey to get that technology.
Dubai is safe as long as you strictly adhere to their strict rules
No doubt about it Iran needs a spanking
In reply to jb4, below
Until Iran pays a direct price for each missile fired by their proxies and for each action like this, nothing will materially change.
According to Arutz Sheva the UAE announced that it has arrested 3 suspects but has not released their names or nationalities.
It’s well past time to kick Turkey out of NATO. They no longer serve any purpose. Constantly raising a middle finger the western countries. Erdogan is a Muslim Brotherhood apologist, if not an outright member.
Turkey should have been on the USA’s shit list the day it screwed us by refusing to allow us to invade Iraq from the north. Its punishment should have been an officially recognized independent Kurdistan with no renunciation of its claims on Turkish territory.
As I understand it, it’s his widow who is Rabbi Holtzberg’s niece. So she lived through that experience as a young girl, and now she’s living through it again as a recently married young woman..
It wouldn’t surprise me if the murderers had government help moving in and out of the UAE. The mujahideen are, after all, the most righteous of Muslims according to Muhammad.