Uzbeks sentenced to death: are the times cruel?
Uzbeks sentenced to death: are the times cruel?
The murder of three Uzbeks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the last months of 2024 caused a huge stir around the world. However, this time too, the news related to the Zionist regime was only one-sidedly covered by the leading media outlets.
Initial review
In fact, murders are committed almost every day in different regions and for different motives. However, not all of them are exposed to the world and attract the attention of humanity.
Especially at a time when anti-Semitism is growing rapidly around the world, the concept has developed that crimes involving the deaths of Jewish people must cause a stir. The factor that serves to make such news sensational and disseminate it to the world public is, of course, the media, or in modern terms, representatives and companies of the media industry.
It is clear to everyone that the largest, leading media companies and most of the social networks in the world today are directly controlled and managed by Zionist-Jews. Especially since October 7, 2023, it is no longer necessary to provide evidence to confirm such opinions. These are facts, not conspiracy theories.
For more than a year, there have been more than enough examples to draw conclusions about the activities of the world's leading media companies in the issue of impartial, objective coverage of crimes against humanity such as genocide and ethnic cleansing committed by Israel. On the contrary, attempts to cover up or downplay the war crimes committed by the Zionist regime of Israel continue to this day.
However, the murder of three Uzbeks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the last months of 2024 caused a huge stir around the world. However, this time, the news related to the Zionist regime was covered only one-sidedly by the largest and most recognized leading media outlets . To prove this claim, this analytical material was prepared based on the news distributed by them.
What kind of murder was committed in the UAE?
To clarify the issue, it is necessary to review the data compiled based on reports disseminated by traditional media.
So, on November 21, 2024, Tzvi Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan Orthodox rabbi living in the UAE, will be kidnapped.
His body was found on November 24, 2024. The murder, classified as an act of terrorism, was believed to have been committed by three Uzbek citizens.
About the personality of Tsvi Kogan
Tzvi Kogan was born in 1996 in the Ramat Shlomo district of Jerusalem to Alexander and Ethel Kogan. He was raised in a Litvak Haredi family, along with his older brother Reuven.
As a teenager, Kogan studied at the Yeshiva (a higher religious institution of the Jews) Maoz Hail in Jerusalem, Yeshiva Rabbeinu Chaim Ozer in Bnei Brak, and finally Yeshiva Mir in Jerusalem. He is reported to have completed his compulsory military service in the 84th Givati Infantry Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces before moving to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is a dual citizen of Israel and Moldova.
Kogan and his wife, Rivki (née Szpilman), a U.S. citizen, were married in 2022. His wife is the niece of Chabad Rabbi Gavriel Noah Holtzberg, who was once killed along with his wife by an Islamic militant group during the attacks in Mumbai, India.
Kogan was an ultra-Orthodox rabbi and representative of the Abu Dhabi branch of Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic organization. He had been based there since the UAE normalized diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords. Kogan is said to have worked to explain Judaism and dispel myths and stereotypes about the religion. He was an assistant to the UAE's Chief Rabbi, Levi Duchman. He also served as the resident manager of Rimon kosher supermarket on Al Wasl Street in Dubai. Chabad officials say he and Duchman "worked to expand Jewish life in the UAE," including by providing kosher food and opening the country's first Jewish education center.
Kogan's kidnapping and murder
Kogan was last seen at the kosher supermarket he runs in Dubai before his abduction. He then failed to show up for scheduled appointments, and his wife was unable to contact him. His wife was forced to report the incident to Chabad's head of security, who in turn notified the local authorities. Kogan has been officially missing since the afternoon of November 21, 2024. However, Kogan's family says he stopped contacting him the day before.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office, on behalf of Mossad, announces Kogan's disappearance on November 23, 2024, and issues a statement that Israeli security and intelligence services are investigating the incident. This prompts a joint investigation by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and Emirati authorities. An Israeli delegation arrives in the UAE to assist in the investigation. Mossad considers his disappearance an act of terrorism and leads the investigation.
Kagan's car and phone were found abandoned in the Al Ain district of Abu Dhabi, 150 kilometers from Dubai and on the border with Oman. His car was found to have blood stains and evidence of a violent struggle.
Initial reports suggest that Kogan was followed by three Uzbeks as he left the Rimon supermarket he ran and headed into the city. Investigators say the attackers followed Kogan's movements before kidnapping him and driving him in their car to Al Ain, where he was killed. The attackers then fled to Turkey.
Israel's Mossad intelligence agency has accused Iran of involvement in Kogan's murder. The Iranian embassy in the UAE has denied any involvement in the killing, saying it has not provided any evidence to support the allegation.
His body will be found on November 24, 2024. By the time of his murder, Kogan will be 28 years old.
Arrest of Uzbeks
On November 24, the UAE Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of three Uzbek citizens suspected of kidnapping and killing Kogan. Uzbek media reported that the suspects were named as Olimboy Davlatyorov, Mahmudjon Kenjaboev, and Azizbek Ismailov. However, the UAE Ministry of Interior's statement for some reason only lists their first and middle names. ( https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cwy4znzlzw5o )
Following a covert operation by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization and Istanbul police at the request of the UAE government, three suspects were arrested in Istanbul, Turkey, as they were leaving the airport in a taxi. The suspects were then extradited to the Emirates by Turkish authorities at the request of the UAE. In turn, the relevant UAE ministry announced the start of the trial, and according to reports circulating on social media, three Uzbeks were sentenced to death.
The news of the death sentence was further confirmed on social media after a phone conversation between one of the convicts and his mother and sister was shared. For example, on the social network X-, formerly known as Twitter, one of the convicts informs his mother and sister about the death sentence: "All three of us have been sentenced to death," a male voice says in the audio recording. "On this blessed night of Laylatul Qadr, I want to tell you one more thing - believe in Allah, ask those who have rights over us to forgive us, to be pleased with us." During the conversation, the mother and sister can be heard crying, and they are encouraged to "be patient, ask Allah for our rights," at the end of the conversation. ( https://t.me/olam_ichra/6509 )
Official reactions
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "deeply shocked" by the killing and vowed to use all means to bring the killers and "those who hired them" to justice. Israeli President Isaac Herzog also condemned the killing.
The Moldovan government calls this an "anti-Semitic act."
The then-President Biden administration in the United States condemned the murder, saying it was "a terrible crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance, and coexistence" and that "those who committed this crime and all those who supported them must be held fully accountable."
US Congressman Steny Hoyer said: "I strongly condemn this terrorist attack against innocent civilians. I believe that the rise in anti-Semitism we are witnessing around the world is unacceptable and that Jews everywhere must be safe."
US Congressman Ritchie Torres: "I was horrified by the news of Rabbi Zvi Kogan's kidnapping and murder by anti-Semites, who kidnapped and murdered him simply because he was Jewish. May his memory be blessed." Torres also criticizes The New York Times for the headline of his article. Because The New York Times first published an article on the subject under the headline "Israeli Rabbi Who Disappeared in Dubai Found Dead"; after the publication was criticized for downplaying the fact that Kogan was kidnapped (not just disappeared) and murdered (not just dead), the newspaper later changed the headline to: "Israeli Rabbi Kidnapped, Murdered in UAE."
Then-US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned Kogan's kidnapping and killing in a phone call with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken "commends the swift action taken by UAE law enforcement agencies in response to the killing."
New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she is horrified by the kidnapping and murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan. "My heart goes out to his family and the Jewish community. May his memory be blessed," she said.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said: "I was deeply saddened to learn of the 'brutal and senseless murder' of Chabad Rabbi Shaliach Zvi Koga. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife, a fellow New Yorker, his entire family, and the Jewish community."
On November 25, 2024, Jared Kushner, son-in-law of current US President Donald Trump and the 2020 "Abraham Truce" broker that normalized relations between the UAE and Israel, and his wife, Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, announced that they would donate $1 million to the Chabad Center in the UAE, where Kogan works. Kushner's brother and daughter-in-law Joshua Kushner and Karlie Kloss would soon add another $1 million to the donation.
UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba called Kogan's murder a "crime against the UAE" and wrote, "We reject any form of extremism and fanaticism." https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20241125-uae-names-three-uzbek-suspects-murder-israeli-rabbi
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condolences to the Kogan family and thanked Turkey for its "cooperation in arresting the criminals."
The UAE also highly appreciates the professionalism of the Emirati officials who led the investigation.
The Uzbek Foreign Minister also announced that his country was closely cooperating with the UAE and Israeli authorities in investigating the murder. In particular, the official statement said: "The people of Uzbekistan have always been friendly towards representatives of all religions and nationalities. Uzbekistan has never tolerated any form of nationalism and never will."
The American Muslim and Multifaith Women's Advancing Rights Council (AMMWEC) also condemned the killing. AMMWEC President and CEO Anila Ali blamed anti-Semitism "in the Arab world and the West" for Kogan's murder, saying that leaders of the "free world" and "Arab countries" must do more to prevent the spread of anti-Semitism.
Chabad announces plans for a $50 million campaign to establish a Jewish women's college in New York in memory of Kogan.
Estimates in some publications
BBC Middle East expert Murat Batal writes that the killing of Kogan is making foreigners, especially Israeli citizens, think it might not be safe to visit the UAE. ( https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cwy4znzlzw5o )
In addition, it notes that allegations of Uzbek citizens' involvement in crime may be further evidence of the spread of extremist ideology in Central Asia.
In particular, experts write that they are trying to determine whether these people have any connections with the "Vilayati Khorasan" group, which is said to be an Afghan cell of ISIS, and that this group has been actively recruiting people from Uzbekistan and other neighboring countries.
Analyst Murad Batal recalls that some Israeli politicians have blamed Iran from the very first day of the assassination, and that Iranian officials, in turn, have denied such claims.
UAE officials also did not rule out other motives for Kogan's murder, he adds.
However, one Israeli publication, citing Israeli intelligence, writes that Iran was not behind the attack, but that the crime is being considered an act of terrorism.
The Israeli publication also writes, "Kogan's murder was a blow to the small but thriving Jewish community in the UAE, the first new Jewish community in the Middle East since the mass deportation of Jews in the 20th century. Despite the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and the United States during the war in Gaza, Jews in the Emirates felt relatively safe. Tzvi Kogan repeatedly told friends that he felt no threat to his life in the Arab country." ( https://segodnya.co.il/news/v-oae-troe-grazhdan-uzbekistana-prigovoreny-k-kazni-za-ubijstvo-ravvina-kogana )
Final thoughts and conclusion
Continuing the emphasis in the initial comment, it is worth mentioning that there is a lot of information above, and all these reactions of the authorities are related to a single murder. However, crimes against humanity - war crimes such as genocide and ethnic cleansing - are still being committed before the eyes of the whole world. However, comparing the reactions of the authorities and media experts to this single crime once again confirms the conclusions in the initial comments about the bias of the leading media companies.
There was not a single publication that did not report on the murder of Kogan, his identity. Almost all of the above reactions were only around Tsvi Kogan and expressed only in the interests of the protection and benefit of Jews. However, the identity of the three Uzbek youths sentenced to death by the UAE court as his murderers, the factors and motives that led them to commit this crime, were not studied at all, and not even simple assumptions were made.
Of course, some major publications simply tried to link this to anti-Semitic sentiment and briefly link it to the war in Gaza. But they did not conduct a journalistic investigation, analyze it, and delve into the topic in depth. On the contrary, it can be seen that for VVS experts like Murad Batal, it was more interesting to create evidence for the spread of extremist ideas in Uzbekistan than to conduct research on the personalities of the three Uzbeks who committed the crime and what compelled them to commit this crime.
Don't experts like Murad Batal realize that this kind of "argument-making" is only serving to ensure that future restrictions on religious freedom in Uzbekistan will be strengthened and that even greater control and pressure will be imposed on Muslims who want to practice their religion as perfectly as possible?
In general, the answers to a number of questions related to this crime cannot be found in almost any major media outlet. If the authorities are keeping detailed information about this crime secret, then there is every reason to assume that the motives for this crime, even superficially observing its commission, are directly related to the war crimes of the Zionist regime! The situation itself clearly shows this!
As noted, some reputable publications that mentioned these motives also mentioned them in one sentence, and that's fine. Even then, crimes related to genocide were not mentioned. As always, they were linked to the Hamas attack after October 7. However, the very leading media companies themselves have been acknowledging that the war crimes committed by Israel today are shaking not only the Muslim world, but also non-Muslim societies, and that hatred against extreme Zionists has increased in them!
Can't the growth of any hatred and anger lead to more and more crimes being committed by humans?!
So why did the UAE act so vigorously, quickly find the perpetrators, and issue such harsh sentences against them?
In fact, the UAE is one of the safest regions in the world, where all the rich people in the world gather. Even representatives of various criminal groups and corrupt people who have made their fortunes illegally feel safe here and are said to have made it their home in a sense. As the saying goes, “A wolf does not hunt near its own den,” representatives of the criminal world and corrupt people may plan their crimes in the UAE, but they do not commit crimes there. Because the UAE government has undertaken to protect their lives and property precisely on these terms or has tied them to such an agreement. That is, it seems that the condition is set: “Do whatever you want, but do not do it against the UAE and do not commit it on the territory of the UAE.”
That is probably why the UAE Ambassador to the US, Yousef Al-Otaiba, described Kogan's murder as "not just a simple crime committed in the UAE, but a crime against the UAE ." Because it would not be wrong to say that it was the diplomatic channels that forced the swift response to this murder committed against Jews after the "Abraham Accords" and the swift finding and harsh sentencing of the perpetrators. In addition, it was an attempt to prevent the trust and attitude of the International Zionist Organization, which manages and controls the world's largest financial organizations, institutions, funds and banks, from changing to a negative side. So, the UAE was interested in quickly finding the perpetrator and taking action.
Turkish? Why did the Turks help extradite three Uzbeks who committed murder? Diplomatic relations between the UAE and Turkey have been tense for a decade after the 2011 Arab Spring due to their differing views on Muslims. Ankara has even accused the UAE of being involved in the failed coup in Turkey in 2016.
It is true that relations between the two countries have begun to improve in recent years. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid an official visit to the UAE on February 13, 2024. He participated as a keynote speaker at the World Government Summit in Dubai and met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the summit.
Turkey and the UAE have an extradition treaty. The treaty was signed on September 22, 2011, and regulates cooperation in criminal matters between the two countries. ( Interpol Law Firm )
Also, on July 19, 2023, new agreements were signed between Turkey and the UAE, including agreements on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and extradition.
But Turkey is said to have another reason for its interest in quickly extraditing the three Uzbeks to the UAE.
At the time, Turkey had officially requested the UAE's extradition of notorious crime boss Sedat Peker. Peker had previously supported the Turkish government but had later become critical of it, accusing high-ranking officials of corruption and other crimes.
( https://www.youtube.com/@sedatpekerreis/videos )
In June 2021, Turkish courts issued an arrest warrant for him on charges including extortion and running a criminal organization. Turkey then sent an official request to the UAE for his extradition. https://mk-turkey.ru/life/2022/02/24/avtoriteta-pekera.html
In September 2021, Turkey offered to exchange two suspected spies arrested in 2019 and 2020 for Sedat Peker. However, the UAE did not officially respond to this offer at the time.
After Turkey cooperated with the UAE in November 2024 to arrest and extradite three Uzbek citizens suspected of the murder of Israeli rabbi Tzvi Kogan in the UAE, this cooperation may provide further evidence of warming relations between the two countries, and it is possible that this will also affect the consideration of the Peker request.
There is no confirmed information yet that Sedat Peker has been extradited to Turkey by the UAE. It is likely that Turkish law enforcement agencies were more interested in bringing Sedat Peker to Turkey, and they quickly provided the necessary assistance to the UAE.
While the majority of those who followed the news of the assassination of Jewish rabbi Tzvi Kogan through the mainstream media and reacted to him without feeling any sympathy were ordinary Muslim observers, it was not only the Muslim audience that was surprised by the actions of the UAE and Turkey in this situation, but also others. However, the fact that no punishment was taken against the Zionist militants who participated in the massacre of thousands of children and women in Gaza and committed war crimes and freely roamed the tourist resorts of Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, indicated that the standards of justice were violated.
In particular, it may be surprising that despite public activists such as the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) ( https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/ ) exposing war crimes by Israeli soldiers, governments in Arab and Muslim countries, among others, continue to allow war criminals to roam freely on their territory.
Taking the above into account, we can conclude that in the relations between the official bodies of the UAE and Turkey, political and legal interests take precedence over mutual religious views.
Perhaps Turkey did not expect such a harsh sentence from the UAE against the Uzbeks it had handed over. It is also possible that the UAE was trying to strictly adhere to the "Abrahamic Peace Accords" in accordance with Islamic teachings.
As for the biased leading media companies, we can only remind them that today most people in the world are more interested in unbiased news materials about three Uzbeks sentenced to death than about the murdered Tsvi Kogan.
Ilhom Alimov, journalist.
The author's opinion does not represent the editorial view.