UAE arrests 3 Uzbek citizens in connection with the murder of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi

Rimon Market is a Kosher grocery store run by the late Rabbi Zvi Kogan in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday, November 24, 2024. (Jon Gambrell/AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Police arrested three Uzbek nationals in connection with the murder of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi, the United Arab Emirates said Monday. This attack raised concerns for the developing Israeli society in the country.

A statement from the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs offered no justification for Zvi Kogan’s killing, but an official with the Israeli Foreign Ministry later told The Associated Press that he was simply “killed because of who he was.”

Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who disappeared on Thursday, ran a kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for trade and tourism since the Israelis established diplomatic relations in the 2020 Abraham Accords.

The agreement has held up for more than a year despite rising regional tensions sparked by Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. But Israel’s devastating retaliatory strike in Gaza and invasion of Lebanon after months of clashes with the Hezbollah militant group have fueled anger among Emiratis, Arab citizens and others living in the UAE.

In the statement made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the names of the three people in question were stated as Olimboy Tohirovich (28), Makhmudjon Abdurakhim (28) and Azizbek Kamilovich (33). The state-run WAM news agency published photos of three men blindfolded, covering their faces, wearing prison uniforms and flip-flops.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs said the preliminary investigation into the men was “preparation to refer them to the prosecutor’s office for further investigation”.

It was not immediately clear whether the three men had lawyers or sought consular assistance in the UAE, a country of seven autocratically ruled sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. The Uzbek Consulate in Dubai did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrests.

In the news in the Israeli press, based on unnamed security officials, there were allegations that Uzbeks were involved in the murder of Kogan. Uzbeks and other transnational criminal gangs have previously been recruited in Iran’s plots targeting dissidents and others.

Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, was also threatening to retaliate against Israel following a wave of airstrikes in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack in October. Iran’s Embassy in Abu Dhabi denied Tehran’s involvement in the rabbi’s murder.

Although Iran was not mentioned in the UAE statement, Iranian intelligence services have carried out kidnappings in the UAE in the past.

Western officials believe Iran is conducting intelligence operations in the UAE and is tracking hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.

Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013. Iran also kidnapped Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd from Dubai in 2020, taking him back to Tehran where he was executed in October.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also made a brief reference to Iran in his remarks regarding Kogan’s killing.

“I greatly appreciate the UAE’s cooperation in investigating the murder,” he said. “We will strengthen the ties between us against the attempts of the axis of evil to damage the peace relations between us.”

Rimon Market, the kosher grocery store run by Kogan on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was closed on Sunday. The store became the target of online protests from supporters of the Palestinians as wars rocked the region. It was seen that the mezuzahs on the front and back doors of the market had been removed.

Kogan’s body was returned to Israel on Monday ahead of his funeral, which was scheduled for the next day.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation and diplomatic matters, said officials believe Kogan’s death was due to his ultra-Orthodox Jewish identity and not to anything else.

“He was attacked because of who he is,” the official said.

Israelis and Jews in the UAE have been on edge since the October 7 attacks. The official said the ritual, which normally requires 10 Jewish men, still occurs, but not in places previously used by the community.

The official acknowledged that tensions were likely simmering below the surface in the UAE, but praised the Emirati government for its investigations into Kogan’s killing. Israeli security services are involved in the investigation, the official said. This likely includes Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service.

While the UAE strongly criticized the Israeli army’s behavior in the Gaza Strip, it also maintained diplomatic relations with Israel. Israeli diplomats also returned to Bahrain, the official said.

“They may not accept what we did in the war… but dialogue allows them to send all humanitarian aid,” the official said of the Emirati government.

The official added: “It was putting a strain on the relationship, but in a way it’s keeping it strong.”