‘Kidnapped’ rabbi found dead in suspected ‘terror’ incident

The body of a missing Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who disappeared in the United Arab Emirates has been found, as Israel vowed to act with ‘all means’.

Rabbi Zvi Kogan, 28, went missing Thursday, with suspicions he had been kidnapped.

His body was found days later in what the government described as a ‘heinous antisemitic terror incident’.

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel ‘will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death’.

The UAE government gave no immediate acknowledgement that Mr Kogan had been found dead.

The Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism, said Mr Kogan was last seen in Dubai.

A video circulating on social media showed him earlier in the week at a Kosher grocery store in the city-state.

The Chabad Lubavitch movement also described Mr Kogan as being an emissary of the branch, which is based in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighbourhood in New York.

Early on Sunday, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency reported Mr Kogan’s disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan.

The Emirati Interior Ministry described Mr Kogan as being ‘missing and out of contact’, adding: ‘Specialised authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report.’

Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and said Emirati authorities ‘will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.’

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