Jewish activist Victoria Zirkiev was packing to leave for a trip to Dubai last weekend when she heard that Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Chabad emissary in Dubai, had gone missing and was believed to be dead.
Zirkiev, CEO of HOSHEN Media Group told Ynetnews that she and her husband found out about the tragic news when she turned her phone back on immediately after Shabbat.
Victoria Zirkiev | CEO of HOSHEN Media Group
"I was in the middle of packing, my flight was leaving in the morning. We were a little nervous but you know what? We said, 'it could be just a weird incident.' We went to sleep and we were hoping that we will get good news in the morning," she said.
But by the morning, the news had gotten even worse.
"I woke up to the horrible news that he was killed. I think that really shook us up and we literally had like 20 minutes to decide either we're leaving to the airport or we're canceling the trip. I told my husband, 'we cannot go, this is not safe. I cannot risk it.' My husband said, 'let's call some friends in Dubai and find out what is the security like for the Jews coming into Dubai.' We spoke to some friends living here, they contacted the embassies and they told us 'Do not worry. Come, there is no security threat for you.'"
Less than three days after Kogan's abandoned car and body were found in the city of Al-Ain, three days after he had been kidnapped from Dubai, three suspects, all of Uzbek origin, were captured in a covert operation in Istanbul by Turkish intelligence and the police, and extradited to the Emirates.
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Rabbi Zvi Kogan during a ceremony to welcome a new Torah scroll into the Chabad House
On Monday, photos of the three men—Olimpi Toirovich, 28; Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28; and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33—were distributed in the Emirates. They are shown handcuffed with blindfolds and blue prison garb. The United Arab Emirates is reportedly likely to demand that the three be sentenced to death.
No suspected motive for the murder was announced, though Israel has called it an "antisemitic terrorist act."
Kogan married six months ago, and his wife is the niece of Rabbi Gabi Holtzberg, a Chabad emissary murdered in Mumbai in 2008. Kogan was an aide to the chief Chabad rabbi in the Emirates, Rabbi Levi Duchman, and also established and managed the community's kosher supermarket. Before that, he served as a soldier in the IDF's Givati Brigade.
Zirkiev says that since she arrived in the UAE, she has not felt "discriminated against" nor has she felt any antisemitism.
And she encourages people to come visit Dubai, especially in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in southern Israel, and the subsequent protracted war.
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"There are 5,000 Jewish people living here in Dubai, which I think is beautiful," Zirkiev said. "And I believe that Jewish people need to come out and support the Jewish businesses here because I feel like, after October 7, a lot of the amazing kosher restaurants have closed down because people are a little bit hesitant to visit. But I feel like you should come. It's totally safe. There is no crime in this country. This is a very weird incident that happened. Hopefully, it will not happen anymore because the country did take it seriously. And I can tell you I've been here this whole time and not once did I ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable. And I'm proudly Jewish. I don't hide it."