The Murdering of the Jew

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” Albert Einstein (1879–1955)

The murder of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan Z”L on November 21, 2024 in Abu Dhabi after he was kidnapped, brutalized and killed by his assailants haunts me like nothing else that I have seen this year. I am sure that this heinous act by state sponsored murderous thugs has the entire world Jewry steeped in a collective mourning. For this is not about one person, but what very well could be a successful plot of the organized hunting and murdering of the Jew for the singular reason of being Jewish. Reminiscent of something from the past jogging your mind? well it should not just jog your memory but stop you in your tracks.

Three Uzbek nationals-persons are assumed to have been contracted by the Iranian regime of terror (though no evidence of this so far exists, and involvement has been categorically denied by the Iranian embassy in Abu Dhabi, I will make this a safe bet that these individuals did not act alone and the regime is very likely to have planned, recruited and financed).  Olimboy Tohirovich, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, and Azizbek Kamilovich crossed borders into the UAE, they surveilled the young Rabbi, tracked him, hunted him, planned for his detainment, abducted him, tortured him, and murdered him in cold blood after a violent struggle; leaving his brutalized body severely violated and discarded in some back alley before they jumped on a plane for Turkey where they were quickly apprehended in an impressive coordination of secret services of several countries including Israel.  The attention, time and speed of their arrests at least gives me some solace. And yet, the crime was still able to be organized, co-ordinated and happened under the noses of the same security apparatus.  So maybe I’m not feeling so consoled after all.

It has hit me hard. His innocence and goodwill is godly.  He was my son’s age – his parents likely my age, his young wife is left devastated along with siblings, uncles, aunts, grandparents and this is not the first time the family has been on the front lines of an organized attack, having first had knowledge of the Holtzberg family murdered in the November 2008 Mumbai killing spree by the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

A person of purity

Since absorbing the news and the details coming in, I see Rabbi Kogan everywhere.  I never met him, and this is the first time I have heard his name.  But I am seeing him as I go about my day and though the trauma will preside for all of us, it has to, I will see his face for some time and wonder about the terror he felt as if what was happening to him was not real – a bad dream, until the final words of his faith would roll off his tongue with his eyes pleading not for himself but for all of the world as he sees the reflection of evil in the eyes of his assailants.  I am so sorry for you Rabbi Kogan, a person of purity taken from this world so early and savagely.  Your idealism and energy of a young man excited at the prospect of sharing the goodwill of God and working tirelessly to do good for any person in need without condition or judgement.  Is it possible that in your final moments you thought to forgive these misguided cretans puppeting for what is sure to come out, the sponsorship of the Iranian regime. Likely, given your empathy and kind heart.

Normalized violence

How have we come here to this dark and evil place?  The murdering of a Jew is unfortunately a scenario that has played itself many times throughout time.  We know well of the scapegoating of the Jew.  The hunting and murdering of our people.  But yet, we are still shocked and I have to ask why should we be surprised?If

the current situation is allowed to continue, if the rhetoric of hate is not stopped at the source, violence is likely to follow

The rhetoric against Israel has been building, unchallenged by law, into a crescendo of hateful content and violent undertones. The aftermath of Ten-Seven bears witness to a wave of lawlessness. Police services appear defenseless against the growing crowds, which call for the destruction of Israel with perverse poetic chants and slogans on placards like “From The River to The Sea”, “Long live Oct 7”, and, “There is only one solution, intifada, revolution.” All of these slogans have one meaning: the destruction of Israel, and/or violence against Jews. 

These protests are normalizing violence against Jews. It is only a matter of time before that violence becomes real. I believe that the situation has become scary and obscene. Last week’s rallying cry in Montreal was a crowd, not of a few people but of hundreds of masked haters marching through the streets with a trail of damage and intimidation.  Seemingly untouched by police.  I am watching with alarm the protests in my own neighbourhood in North York.  Last Sunday was the dramatic depiction of Sinwar’s final moments. What comes next? A pogrom in a north Toronto neighborhood? If the current situation is allowed to continue, if the rhetoric of hate is not stopped at the source, violence is likely to follow. History has shown this countless times. Homicidal maniacs will wake up one morning and say to themselves “Someone has got to do something. Damn! I’ll get it done myself.” 

The more the hatred is stoked, the more people are apt to act on it. This is as true in Dubai for Rabbi Kogan as it was in Paris for Sarah Halimi,  who on April 4, 2017, a 65-year-old retired doctor and Orthodox Jewish woman, was attacked in her Paris apartment by her neighbor, Kobili Traoré. Traoré beat her severely while reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” and antisemitic slurs before throwing her out of a third-floor window. His charges were dismissed because he was deemed not responsible due to a drug induced psychotic episode.  It was true for Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, who was found murdered in her Paris apartment. She had been stabbed 11 times, and her body was set on fire.  It was true for the 11 Jews murdered in cold blood on October 27, 2018 at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue, by Robert Bowers, a far right white gun-toting terrorist . There have been more than 45,000 Jihadist terror attacks around the world since 9/11, according to The Religion of Peace website. The meter on their site is a dark measurement of terror and destruction.

As reported in the National Post, Canadian-born Knesset  member Sharren Haskel said the news that a Canadian citizen carried out a terror attack in Israel shouldn’t be surprising. On July 22, 2024 Mr. Qawarshi Zakaria Adam flew from Alberta to Tel Aviv rented a car and attempted a stabbing attack at the entrance to Netiv HaAsara, a moshav near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.  Haskel is quoted as saying “The spread of radical Islam and extremist ideologies in Canada has created major cultural challenges for the country, including a plague of antisemitism that has spread, making it unsafe for Jews and Canadians to live their day-to-day lives without the fear of being attacked verbally and physically,” she said. “With the lack of law enforcement and a turning a blind eye to the rise of hatred and violence by radical Muslims, Canada has become a hotbed for terrorists who are operating within and outside of Canada.”

Lines crossed a long time ago

The incidents of antisemitism are on an extreme trajectory in the wrong direction here in Canada and these protests have clearly crossed the line from an exercise in free speech to a call for violence. There is a difference between peaceful dialogue to bring attention to a matter of concern by a social strata, and the blatant threats used by pro-Hamas protesters.

I will not hide my necklace displaying the Star of David, I will not remove the Kippa from my head, and I will not be embarrassed to say my name.

Jews everywhere are feeling at risk. It has come to a place where I must now consider my safety before telling someone my name.  I am a 3rd generation Canadian; for me to have to concern myself with the consequence of my name or a display of Jewish pride, to the point that I must fear for my well-being, is a sad place that we have come to. 

Israeli flag at Queens, Kingston student residence (Ellis)

The worst of it all, post-Ten-Seven, is fighting the instinct to go into hiding. As that chant to Jihad becomes louder, my discomfort becomes stronger. As a Jew I am feeling increasingly unsafe. When my youngest son hung an Israeli flag in his window at his university residence, I was concerned by him bringing unneeded attention his way. “Lay low,” I found myself saying. He put the Israeli flag up anyway, and I’m proud of him for being proud of who he is. His small act of defiance to the haters, strengthened my resolve not to hide. I will not hide my necklace displaying the Star of David, I will not remove the Kippa from my head, and I will not be embarrassed to say my name.

* * *

Iran and its regime is spreading their vile hate and prompting antisemitic actions not with mere words but with funding and encouragement and yet governments lack the agency to call it out.

Iran cannot be allowed to continue to achieve proxies to disconnect themselves from direct responsibility of this and other terror events so that they can continue to sit at a negotiating table.  They are solely responsible for almost every act of terror that has targeted Israel, her allies, people, and land.  They are spilling into the borders of our country and will eventually overrun the safeguards of even the most powerful of defences.

In the view where hindsight is 20/20 let’s not say we could have, should have, or would have; had we known.  We know right now what is possible and what is present amongst us.  We must demand and ensure that governments everywhere take the threat to Jewish lives seriously.  What happened to Rabbi Kogan is endemic of what could happen anywhere, anytime.  Please be diligent with security.  Hold our politicians accountable.  And ask them what they are doing to stem the cause of this hatred and end the syllabus of hatred that has infected our schools, institutions, public agencies, media, and general culture.