Israeli-Moldovan citizen Zvi Kogan, 28, who went missing from Dubai last week, was found dead in the United Arab Emirates on the weekend.
Israel has called it an “act of antisemitic terrorism”.
An investigation by Israel’s Mossad spy agency commenced, after suspicions were raised that he was abducted in an act of terrorism.
Kogan was a rabbi for the Jewish Chabad movement in Abu Dhabi, where he lived with his wife.
Emirati authorities notified the Israelis that they had found Kogan’s body about one and a half hours’ drive from Dubai.
Israel suspects that Uzbek citizens with ties to Iran were involved in Kogan’s abduction and killing. Some of the suspects are believed to have fled to Turkey, where their cars were found.
The Emiratis have arrested three people in connection with the killing.
Israel has had long-running concerns about Iranian state actors trying to kill or abduct Israelis abroad.
Iran’s Embassy in Abu Dhabi denied allegations of Tehran’s involvement in Kogan’s death.
“If terrorists wanted to harm the Jewish community in Dubai, they knew exactly who to choose,” Kogan’s friend, Dudi Rubinstein said in a radio interview.
Abu Dhabi’s Chabad provides Jewish religious support for the predominantly expat Jewish community in the UAE and broader Gulf region.
The Jewish presence in Dubai and Abu Dhabi represented the first new congregations in an Arab nation since the founding of Israel in 1948.
Many Jews living in the UAE have said they felt safer living in the Arab Gulf state than in cities in Europe.
The UAE interior ministry stressed the country’s commitment to safeguarding citizens and residents. About 90% of the UAE’s roughly 10 million population is expatriate.