Shocking discovery: Chabad emissary found murdered in UAE in ‘vile anti-Semitic attack’

JERUSALEM – Authorities in the United Arab Emirates made a shocking discovery Sunday after they found the lifeless remains of a Chabad movement emissary, who had been missing – feared abducted – since Thursday.

Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen, who was a relative, through his wife of Rabbi Gavriel Holzberg, the Chabad emissary who was murdered, along with his wife, Rivka, in the Mumbai terrorist atrocity in 2008, was feared missing after he failed to appear at a number of scheduled meetings he had during the day.

After a prolonged period of failure to reach Kogan, his wife, also named Rivka, and who is a U.S. citizen, spoke to the Chabad house security officer, who promptly alerted the Abu Dhabi authorities. Information was also shared with the Israeli authorities, and the story about the hunt for the missing rabbi – and the palpable fears for his safety – caught the internet alight.

My dear brother Zvi, you will always hold a special place in my heart. May God have mercy on your soul, and may your memory be a blessing. I will continue to carry the message of peace between Muslims and Jews relentlessly and pray for strength from God.

Radical Islamists will… pic.twitter.com/lQCGruTZ70

— Loay Alshareef لؤي الشريف (@lalshareef) November 24, 2024

Both Kogan’s body and his car were located in Al-Ain, an inland oasis city on the eastern border with Oman, approximately 90 miles from the capital Abu Dhabi. Israeli outlet Ynet claimed the authorities found signs of violence on the body, and there were also indications of a struggle in Kogan’s car, although it did not provide evidence yet, for this assertion. Suspicion quickly fell on an Iranian-backed terrorist cell populated with Uzbek nationals.

“Israeli authorities are aware that the Uzbeks traveled to Turkey, and Israeli security agencies are coordinating with Turkish officials to uncover the truth. A delegation from Israel has been sent to the UAE to oversee the investigation,” according to the Jewish News Syndicate.

Kogan’s disappearance was front-page news in Israel, and now his body has been found, the country’s leaders reacted with fury at the violence meted out to the religious emissary. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog wrote on X: “I mourn with sorrow and outrage the murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan.”

“This vile antisemitic attack is a reminder of the inhumanity of the enemies of the Jewish people. It 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.”

I mourn with sorrow and outrage the murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan.

This vile antisemitic attack is a reminder of the inhumanity of the enemies of the Jewish people. It will not deter us from continuing to grow flourishing communities in the UAE or anywhere – especially with the help…

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) November 24, 2024

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the weekly Sunday cabinet meeting about Rabbi Kogan and also took to X to decry the brutality of his murder, adding those who sought to destabilize the region and drive a wedge between Israel and the UAE would not succeed.

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.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 24, 2024

The Prime Minister’s Office also reiterated the warning about the UAE having a level 3 travel advisory warning according to the National Security Council. It stipulates only essential travel should be undertaken, and those already in the country should take extra precautions.

The Chabad organization, which operates its houses in most countries of the world and which has tens of thousands of emissaries (and their families), reacted with “great pain” to the discovery of Rabbi Kogan’s body. The organization asked people to do a good deed in his memory.

️ 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