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Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Israeli rabbi Zvi Kogan, who had been missing since Thursday in Dubai, has been found dead, officials announced Sunday. Three people have been arrested in connection to his murder. "Tragically, Kogan's body was recovered by the Emirati authorities early Sunday morning, and his family was notified," the Hasidic Jewish movement Chabad said in a statement.
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Israeli officials said Kogan was murdered, and called his death an act of alleged "terrorism."
"With great pain we share that Rabbi Zvi Kogan, Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., was murdered by terrorists after being abducted on Thursday," Chabad continued in the statement.
Three suspects have been apprehended in the United Arab Emirates in connection to the rabbi's murder, the Middle Eastern country's ministry of interior said in a statement.
The identities of the suspects nor the circumstances surround their arrest were not made public, but the ministry stated that the arrests were the result of an investigation launched following the receipt of a missing person report for the slain rabbi.
"The Ministry reiterated the UAE's unwavering capability to decisively address any attempts to undermine the security and stability of its society," it said.
Officials in the United Arab Emirates said Saturday that they were searching for the missing rabbi. A senior official tried to distance the UAE from the incident, saying the country is a "safe place."
"With the determination and resolve of its leadership and people, the UAE will remain a safe haven, an oasis of stability, a society of tolerance and coexistence," Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the Emirati president, wrote on social media.
According to Chabad, Rabbi Kogan had worked "for several years in establishing and expanding Jewish life in the Emirates." His wife, Rivky, joined him there after their marriage in 2022, the movement's statement said.
The Israeli government has said it possesses information indicating that the killing was an act of "terrorism" without offering details. Israel has not said who might have been behind the attack but has accused Iran and its proxies of seeking to target Israelis abroad.
The Emirati government did not mention Kogan's Israeli nationality during the search that followed the rabbi's disappearance, referring only to his Moldovan citizenship.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Kagan's killing "a despicable antisemitic terrorist attack," without any evidence that the attack was an act of antisemitism. He told his cabinet ministers that Israel would "exact justice" on those responsible.
