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Arabia
Under the Sheikhs' Noses: Why Uzbek Killers Killed a Chabad Rabbi in the Emirates
2024-11-27
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] On November 21, Rabbi Zvi Kogan, an emissary of the religious movement Chabad, went missing in the United Arab Emirates. A few days later, his body was found in his car 150 km from the place of disappearance.

The Iranian secret services were promptly accused of killing Kogan, and the incident itself was considered revenge for the actions of the Israelis in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, as the investigation progresses, it becomes clear that Tehran is far from the only one who can benefit from the death of a religious figure.

CHABAD AND PALESTINE
Chabad stands out from other ultra-Orthodox movements in Israel, primarily because it closely cooperates with the national armed forces and is directly involved in shaping the “moral guidelines” of career soldiers and conscripts.

Moreover, Chabad clerics do not criticize military service (which is unusual for the ultra-Orthodox), and Chabad Jews form the backbone of some ultra-Orthodox units in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Similar special units exist, for example, in the 84th Infantry Brigade "Givati" and the 35th Airborne Brigade "Tzanhanim".

Another feature of the Chabad supporters’ portrait is their zealous attitude towards “historical lands.” They consider the Israeli army’s presence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to be a “necessary mission” and oppose any concessions to Israel’s opponents, even if this is part of a broader diplomatic effort.

Tel Aviv's opponents are convinced that the IDF is deliberately using units with close ties to Chabad as a "sword of vengeance" in the most difficult areas of Gaza. It is not surprising that a representative of this movement could be chosen as the "object of revenge".

OUTLINES OF THE "IRANIAN TRACE"
The theory that Iranian special services were behind the high-profile incident emerged in the first hours after Kogan's disappearance. And after his body was discovered, the suspicions only grew stronger.

Supporters of the version about the “Iranian trace” in the death of the rabbi insist that Tehran has already carried out “special operations” on the territory of the UAE more than once – over the past decade, several dozen spy scandals have thundered between the countries.

For example, in 2020, Iranian counterintelligence kidnapped Jamshid Sharmahd, a German engineer of Iranian origin, from Dubai, who was suspected of working for the monarchist underground organization Tondar and stealing secret information about Iran's missile program.

The story of Rabbi Kogan has several intersections with the "Sharmakhd affair."

Firstly, both abducted persons had citizenship of third countries (Sharmakhd was a citizen of Germany, Kogan had passports of Moldova and the UAE).

Secondly, both incidents are easily identifiable as having an ideological component. In particular, the capture of Sharmahd was later presented as a “crushing blow” to the Tondar positions, which allegedly cost the monarchists “the results of several years of underground work.”

The capture of an active Chabad figure could well be presented as a blow to the interests of those forces that advocate for the expansion of Israel's presence in the Gaza Strip and, theoretically, push Tel Aviv's external partners into confrontation with Iran.

On the other hand, the Iranian authorities are in every way denying their involvement in the murder of Kogan, while the capture of Sharmahd was almost immediately presented as an operation by Iranian special services. No words of support were heard from the majority of authorities of the pro-Iranian "Axis of Resistance".

However, the theory about the involvement of Iranian intelligence services received additional support from representatives of the Israeli General Security Service (Shabaq). They reported that several Israeli government ministers, including Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, recently received direct invitations from Chabad to an event in New York dedicated to Hanukkah.

However, upon closer inspection it turned out that the person who contacted the ministers had no connection with the movement, and the invitation itself was allegedly compiled using a neural network.

This gave the Israelis reason to believe that the liquidation of Kogan and the sending of invitations on behalf of Chabad were connected and were elements of a larger operation to hunt down influential Israelis.

OTHER INTERESTS
As time goes by, more and more elements appear in the “Kogan case” that cast doubt on the validity of the “Iranian connection” version.

Thus, after UAE law enforcement officers detained the alleged “liquidators,” citizens of Uzbekistan, rumors began to circulate that the perpetrators of the attack were recruited by radical Islamists who consider themselves to be part of one of the structural divisions of ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in Russia).

The terrorist underground has its own scores to settle with Chabad, and the terrorist attack on an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who supports the IDF offensive in Gaza fits in perfectly with the radical concept of “fighting for Palestinian interests.” In the long term, it could be used by terrorists to recruit new supporters in the enclave.

Moreover, the motives for the murder are still not entirely clear, especially since Kogan was not the only (albeit quite active) representative of Chabad in the UAE.

At least four more emissaries of the movement continue to work in the country. For Iran, a living representative of Chabad, whose “public repentance” could be used in anti-Israeli propaganda, would be of much greater value. Especially since responsibility for the liquidation of Kogan is still not being taken by official Tehran, nor by its proxy partners (including Hamas).

Be that as it may, Israel will receive its dividends from the "Kogan case" in any case. Regardless of the further course of the investigation, the incident has seriously damaged the trust between Abu Dhabi and Tehran, thereby strengthening the "Emirati-Israeli tandem", especially in terms of intelligence cooperation.

In addition, Tel Aviv received additional leverage over the United States, providing another trump card in negotiations to resolve the situation in Gaza.

Now the White House will likely need to include in the guarantees a clause on protecting Jewish communities in other countries from possible attacks by “Iranian agents,” which would further delay the conclusion of any ceasefire agreements until a change of administration in the White House.

Posted by:badanov

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