The Israeli Government denounced this Saturday that Rabbi Zvi Kogan is missing in the United Arab Emirates and that he is treating what happened as a case of terrorism.
“Zvi Kogan, Israeli-Moldovan citizen, has been missing since Thursday afternoon (November 21, 2024),” according to a statement from Israel’s foreign intelligence services, Mossad, and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
“Since his disappearance, and based on information that it was a terrorist incident, An intense investigation has been opened in the country“, adds the note without giving more details.
Israeli media such as the channel N12citing sources close to the missing person, They have confirmed that the rabbi’s family has not heard from him for days and they suspect that could have been kidnapped by elements close to the Iranian regimebut there is no official confirmation of any kind in this regard.
Rabbi Kogan is the assistant of the also rabbi Levi Yitzchakthe religious leader of the Jewish community in the United Arab Emirates.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates established diplomatic relations in September 2020 under the Abraham Accordsand made great progress in the bilateral relationship, especially at the commercial level, until October 2023, as a result of the war in Gaza, which has cooled ties without cutting them.
The General National Security Council has since issued a travel warning level 3 (moderate threat) for Emirates, and recommended avoiding non-essential travel and take greater precautions for those staying there.
Between October and November 2023, there were violent protests in support of Palestine in almost all Arab countries, forcing Israel to withdraw non-essential staff from its embassies and ask its citizens to take extreme precautions.
In another order, fighter jets of the Israeli Air Forceunder the direction of military intelligence, carried out multiple attacks against strategic positions in Hezbollah in the area of Da’ahiain Beirutin the last hours.
The bombings destroyed headquarters, a weapons warehouse and other key facilities of the terrorist organization, as part of an operation aimed at weakening its capabilities of aggression against the State of Israel.
According to the report of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), all the targets attacked were located in densely populated areas, which highlights the recurrent use of civilians as human shields by Hezbollah.
Despite this, IDF stressed that extreme precautions were taken to minimize collateral damageincluding precise observation, preliminary intelligence collection and early warnings for the evacuation of the population.
“This is another example of the cynical use of Lebanese citizens as human shields by the terrorist organization Hezbollah“, declared the FDI in a statement published on social networks.
The operation is part of an ongoing effort by Israel to destroy production sites and weapons warehouses accumulated by Hezbollah over the years in Da’ahia. This neighborhood in southern Beirut is known as a stronghold of the group, which has established its operations center and various logistics facilities there.
(With information from Europa Press and EFE)
