KIRYAT MOTZKIN, Israel — Rabbi Tzvi Kogan, who works with the growing Jewish community in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, has been missing since Wednesday and is feared dead, according to reports in Israel on Saturday night local time.
Kogan is a representative of the Chabad movement, a Hasidic movement known for Jewish outreach. He was kidnapped in Abu Dhabi, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news, and there are growing fears that he could be dead.
He is a dual citizen of Moldova and Israel, according to Channel 12.
Breitbart News visited the Jewish community in Abu Dhabi in July, and reported that people felt comfortable there:
Again and again, I have been told by members of the local Jewish community that they feel safer being openly Jewish in the UAE than they do in most cities in the United States — even heavily Jewish New York — due to antisemitism.
In the aftermath of October 7, the UAE issued a strong condemnation of Hamas — one of few Arab states to do so. It has also criticized Israel’s response at times, but has clamped down on anti-Israel hostility, deporting a student who shouted “free Palestine!” at a graduation ceremony.
The war has caused some quiet tensions, but the UAE has not cut off relations with Israel, and is helping deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, working with Israel in doing so. The Abraham Accords remain strong.
If a local rabbi was harmed, that would not harm the Abraham Accords, but could hurt growing investment in the UAE by Israelis, who have seen Abu Dhabi and Dubai as safe gateways to the rest of the Arab and Muslim worlds.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.