Concerns are growing over the fate of Chabad emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan as the United Arab Emirates addresses his disappearance for the first time.
Hours after Mossad announced that Kogan had been missing since Thursday in what it described as a terror attack, the UAE’s Interior Ministry issued an official statement. Notably, the statement made no mention of Kogan’s Israeli identity.
Rabbi Zvi Kogan outside his kosher supermarket in Abu Dhabi
(Video: David Kepler)
In the statement, the ministry confirmed that his family reported "that he has been missing and out of contact since last Thursday" and that "the specialized authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report."
The statement referred to Kogan as a "Moldovan national," reflecting his dual citizenship. The ministry urged the public to rely on official sources for updates and to "avoid heeding malicious rumors or misleading news aimed at causing confusion."
Kogan had served in the IDF's Givati Brigade. He is a close aide to Rabbi Levi Duchman, the chief rabbi of the Jewish community in the UAE and managed the kosher grocery store Rimon in Dubai where he was filmed just days before he was last seen.
A preliminary probe into his disappearance suggests that three Uzbek operatives tailed him after he left the grocery store and drove to Al-Ain, approximately 90 minutes from Dubai where his car was later found abandoned and his phone had been switched off.
According to suspicions, he was likely kidnapped and murdered by the Uzbek terror cell, which was allegedly directed by Iran to provide Tehran with plausible deniability.
These operatives subsequently fled to Turkey. Israeli intelligence agencies are expected to coordinate with Turkish authorities to pursue leads. The Iranians’ use of Uzbek Shiite terrorists is widespread, and they have also operated in Dubai.
Rabbi Zvi Kogan at Holocaust memorial ceremony in UAE, 2021
Last month, Germany announced the closure of all three Iranian consulates on its soil in response to the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a dual German-American citizen and opposition figure who was abducted by Iran in 2020.
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Sharmahd was reportedly kidnapped while traveling through Dubai on his way to India. Emirati authorities traced his cellphone to Al Ain, near the Omani border, before signals ceased after reaching Sohar Port in Oman. Iran later announced it had captured Sharmahd in a "complex operation."
Kogan married six months ago to a niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, the Chabad emissary killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
His family reported their last contact with him was on Wednesday, prompting his wife to alert Chabad’s security officer when he failed to attend scheduled meetings. According to Mossad, he was last seen in Dubai on Thursday afternoon.
A fellow Israeli living in Abu Dhabi who knew Kogan described him as "a kind man who was very active in the community. His family is devastated, and the Israeli and Jewish communities are in shock. Kogan was an aide to the chief rabbi of Chabad in the UAE and also founded and managed the community’s kosher supermarket."