The United Arab Emirates arrests 3 Uzbek citizens in connection with the murder of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi

DUBAI – The United Arab Emirates said police arrested three Uzbek nationals on Monday in connection with the killing of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi. The attack raised concerns among the country’s growing Israeli community.

The Interior Ministry statement gave no motive for killing Zvi Kogan, although an Israeli Foreign Ministry official 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 futuristic Dubai, where Israelis have been coming for trade and tourism since the two countries established diplomatic relations under the 2020 Abraham Accords.

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

A statement from the Ministry of Internal Affairs identified three men: Olimboy Tohirovich (28), Makhmudjon Abdurakhim (28) and Azizbak Kamilovich (33). The state news agency WAM published photos of three men with blindfolds covering their faces wearing prison uniforms and flip-flops.

A preliminary investigation into the men is “in preparation for their referral to the prosecutor’s office for further investigation,” the Interior Ministry said.

It was not immediately clear whether the three men had lawyers or were seeking consular assistance from the United Arab Emirates, an autocratically ruled seven-sheikhdom state on the Arabian Peninsula. The Uzbek embassy in Dubai did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrests.

Israeli media reports, citing anonymous security officials, alleged that Uzbeks were involved in Kogan’s murder. Uzbeks and other international criminal gangs have previously been employed in Iranian plots targeting dissidents and others.

Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, also threatened retaliation against Israel after a wave of airstrikes carried out by Israel in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack. The Iranian embassy in Abu Dhabi denied that Tehran was involved in the rabbi’s murder.

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

Western officials believe Iran is conducting intelligence operations in the United Arab Emirates and monitoring hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.

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

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also made a passing reference to Iran in his remarks about Kogan’s murder.

“I greatly appreciate the cooperation of the United Arab Emirates in the murder investigation,” he said. “We will strengthen the bonds between us in the face of attempts by the axis of evil to harm peaceful relations between us.”

Rimon Market, a kosher grocery store run by Kogan on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, closed on Sunday. As wars plagued the region, the store became the target of online protests by Palestinian supporters. The mezuzahs at the front and back doors of the marketplace appeared to have been deceived.

Kogan’s body was flown back to Israel on Monday ahead of a planned funeral the next day.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation and diplomatic issues said authorities believed Kogan’s death was due to his identity as an ultra-Orthodox Jew rather than anything else.

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

Since the October 7 attacks, Israelis and Jews in the United Arab Emirates have been on edge. The official said services, usually attended by 10 Jews, are still being held, but not in spaces previously used by the community.

The official acknowledged that tensions were likely simmering in the United Arab Emirates, but praised the Emirati government for opening an investigation into Kogan’s murder. The official said Israeli security services were involved in the investigation. This probably includes Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service.

The United Arab Emirates, although strongly criticizing the conduct of the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip, maintains diplomatic relations with Israel. The official said Israeli diplomats also returned to Bahrain.

“They may not agree with what we are doing during the war… but dialogue allows them to send all the humanitarian aid,” an Emirati government official said.

The official added: “It’s been a challenge for the union, but in a way that’s what keeps it strong.”

Gambrell writes for the Associated Press.