UAE parades three Uzbeks suspected of murdering Israeli Rabbi

Three men suspected of kidnapping and murdering an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi in the United Arab Emirates have been arrested and paraded before the media.

The UAE Interior Ministry released a statement identifying the men, two of whom it said were aged 28 and the third 33 - all from Uzbekistan - and released images showing each of the three men handcuffed and blindfolded.

An investigation by Emirati authorities is continuing, the statement said, without saying whether the men - named as Azizi Kamilovic, Olimboy Tohirovich, and Makhmudjon Abdurakhim - had been charged.

The body of the rabbi, Zvi Kogan, a 28-year-old who was living and working in the UAE, was discovered yesterday.

He had been reported missing on Thursday and an Israeli official has said it is believed Kogan was last seen in Dubai.

Emirati authorities have not said if they have established a motive, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it was an 'abhorrent antisemitic terrorist act' and an Israeli official has said it is believed Kogan was targeted because he was Jewish.

The alleged murder has shaken the UAE's Jewish community, which Jewish groups estimate to number in the several thousand.

Kogan was a resident of the UAE and also a Moldovan national, according to local authorities.

He lived in the UAE for several years, working with the New York-based Orthodox Jewish Chabad movement, involved in Jewish community outreach.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog echoed Netanyahu's statement, calling Kogan's murder a 'vile anti-Semitic attack' that he said showed 'the inhumanity of the enemies of the Jewish people'.

Herzog added in a statement that the murder would not 'deter us from continuing to grow flourishing (Jewish) communities in the UAE or anywhere'.

Ayoob Kara, a former Israeli minister involved in promoting ties with Middle Eastern countries, called the killing 'a surprise'.

Speaking outside a kosher market in Dubai which he said Kogan managed, and which was shut Sunday, Kara said: 'Everything is beautiful here, everything is in control here.'

He went on to speculate that entities from Iran may have been involved in the killing. Tehran later denied any involvement.

Israeli agencies are taking part in the investigation, an Israeli official confirmed yesterday.

An Israeli official, briefing journalists on condition of anonymity this morning, said Kogan's body could be repatriated later today.

Meanwhile, the Moldovan foreign ministry has said that it is in contact with UAE authorities.

The embassy of Uzbekistan in Abu Dhabi did not immediately respond to an emailed Reuters request for comment.

UAE Ambassador to Washington Yousef Al Otaiba has said that Kogan's murder was a crime against the Gulf Arab country, which sits on the Arabian Peninsula and across the Gulf from Iran.

The Israeli and Jewish community in the UAE has grown more visible since 2020 when the Gulf Arab country established official ties with Israel under a US-brokered agreement.

The UAE has maintained ties with Israel amid the 13-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

But Israelis and Jews have been less evident in public since the deadly October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war, which sparked protests worldwide.