As if they were going to give good news, the three people under arrest in the United Arab Emirates are suspected of murder concerning the unfortunate demise of Rabbi Zvi Kogan-oft age 28, emissary of the Orthodox Jewish organization, Chabad Lubavitch. They are said to be three Uzbekistan nationals: Olimboy Tohirovich, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, and Azizbek Kamilovich proclaims the body making efforts to unravel the mystery that surrounds the motive behind this sad incidence by themselves.
The blindfolded photographs of the named three men were released by the UAE’s interior ministry amid promises that investigations will take place to bring the guilty to book. Rabbi Kogan’s murder has raised outcry from the public after his corpse was discovered three days after he was declared missing. That is how others, like Israel, also saw the act, which called the murder “an atrocious anti-Semitic terrorist act” and vowed to chase down the perpetrators. Very similarly, Moldova condemned it as an “act of antisemitism.”
In the wake of all this, the UAE’s ambassador to the US made an eloquent statement that the incident was more than an isolated incident-it was an affront to the very values and visions of the oil-rich country. The UAE, which forged full diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020, stands in solidarity with the grieving families.
Regarding the tragic loss, Rabbi Kogan’s funeral procession is expected to unfold at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. A dedicated effort by an Israeli religious organization saw his remains transported by air from the UAE to Israel, signaling the community’s deep mourning.
While initial investigations raise questions about a potential link to a “cell indirectly operated by Iran,” the Iranian embassy firmly denied these claims. Reports, however, continue to swirl about a probable tie to factions like Palestinian Islamic Jihad or Hamas. Things are quite complicated.
Rabbi Kogan had also recently opened up a kosher supermarket in Dubai and was currently on a mission to the UAE. Reports had given his sudden disappearance, after his wife narrated how he failed to attend a scheduled meeting, and according to Chabad, he was said to be missing under an abduction in Dubai and later his car was found abandoned in Al Ain, indicating an investigation across cities.
Against the backdrop of this increased tension, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged, after entering the conference room for Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting, to haul in the full weight of the Israeli legal system to swiftly pursue justice. Rabbi Kogan’s passing is a loss-in irony-across continents, strengthened by Moldova’s President Maia Sandu-often referring to condoling the bereaved family and global Jewish community.
Deeper into the sorrowful moment, as Yousef Al Otaiba noted, this attack is not a statistic, but is in fact an attack against every principle we all hold dear.
