UAE: Moldovan Citizen Missing, Israel Confirms Probe

Israeli-Moldovan Rabbi Missing in UAE: Investigation Links Case to Terror Incident

The Israeli prime minister’s office said on Saturday that it had launched an investigation into the disappearance of an Israeli-Moldovan dual citizen living in the United Arab Emirates who had been missing since Thursday.

Authorities in the Gulf state said in a statement that the man’s disappearance was linked to a “terrorist incident,” without providing further details.

The missing person is Zvi Kogan, the UAE representative for Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish group with chapters around the world that seeks to establish ties with unaffiliated and secular Jews or other Jewish faiths.

Chabad’s world headquarters in the United States said in a statement that Kogan, a rabbi who serves for the group in the UAE, went missing in Dubai on Thursday.

The UAE state news agency said the Interior Ministry was searching for the missing man and was investigating his disappearance, without mentioning his Israeli citizenship.

Chabad UAE declined to comment.

The group’s branch in the UAE supports thousands of Jewish visitors and residents of the country by providing religious and social services to Jews across the Gulf region, its website says.

In 2020, the UAE became the most prominent Arab state in 30 years to establish formal ties with Israel under a US-brokered agreement known as the Abraham Accords. It has maintained ties even during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.