Murder within a miracle: Eyes on the Emirates as religious tolerance is tested

Inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula call it “The Project,” a dazzling, utopian, and brand-new blueprint for society.

Created by a visionary cadre of Arab leaders and aided by the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together in 2019 and the Abraham Accords in 2020, The Project has ushered in a new era of amity, unity and mutual respect in the United Arab Emirates.

In a region of the world marked by religious strife and violence, the UAE’s diverse, primarily expat citizenry of approximately 11 million coexists in a state of enviable harmony. Perhaps the most compelling feature of The Project has been the emergence—over the past 20 years—of a visible and cohesive Jewish community, complete with a synagogue, religious school, and kosher restaurants, all with the blessing of His Highness, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s president.

“What exists in the UAE is a project of the future, in essence, a future where human beings put their energy into development, technological progress, cultural exchange, innovation, and building rather than hatred and violence,” Ross Kriel, one of the leaders of the local Jewish community, told The Media Line.

An insider, Kriel has been conducting business in the Emirates since 2008 and moved to Dubai with his family in 2013. Speaking of The Project in the UAE, he said, “It is a future where Jews and Muslims don’t consider their religious differences to be an impediment. Where, in general, our religious identities and commitments … help in sensing a shared human desire for transcendence and personal refinement.”

Israeli tourists visit the UAE

Kriel is not alone in his enthusiasm for life in the UAE. Between 2020 and 2023, over one million Israelis visited. Though the UAE’s Jewish community is often cited as comprising 500 members, other sources put the true estimate at closer to 3,000. While the majority of Jews in the Emirates live in Dubai, Abu Dhabi is also a hub. In 2023, 1,000 Israeli businesses were operating in the UAE, according to the Dubai International Chamber.

So remarkable was the existence of a thriving local Jewish community in this region that a visiting filmmaker was moved to document an implausible-sounding story: In 2019—the year before the signing of the Abraham Accords—local Jews commissioned the writing of a Torah scroll and presented it as a gesture of thanks to His Highness. This story formed the central plot of the 2021 film, Amen, Amen, Amen, which has been screened around the world.

“Our film showed a phenomenon of religious tolerance in the Middle East that was unknown a few years ago and was a counter to the dominant narrative of religious violence,” Tom Gallagher, the film’s director, told The Media Line.

Furthering the UAE’s mission of interfaith co-existence, in March 2023, a complex called the Abrahamic Family House opened on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, quickly garnering recognition from Time Magazine as “one of the world’s greatest places.” An architectural marvel, it boasts three houses of worship: Eminence Ahmed El-Tayeb Mosque, St. Francis Church, and Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue.

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna is the senior religious adviser of the synagogue at the Abrahamic Family House and the former chief rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates.“The establishment of a Jewish community in the UAE has created a new center of gravity in the global Jewish map. Thousands of Jews reside in the UAE with a high level of trust in the leadership. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, if not millions, have visited over the past few years,” he told The Media Line.

The Project hit its first serious roadblock in late November with the kidnapping and murder of 28-year-old Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Chabad emissary. The brutal event sent shockwaves around the world, far beyond the confines of the local Jewish community. In the days following, condemnations from the Emirati government came swiftly, together with the arrest of three suspects.

In a jointly written opinion piece, the Anti-Defamation League’s CEO and national director, Jonathan Greenblatt, and Ali Rashid al-Nuami, chairman of both the Manara Center for Coexistence and Dialogue and the Defense Affairs, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee of the UAE Federal National Council, mourned this hate crime and emphasized the UAE’s commitment to peace.

The headline stated: “Those who murdered Rabbi Kogan have already failed. Together, we declare: Terror has failed, peace will prevail. The UAE will continue to be a lighthouse of hope in the region.”

But even as the UAE rushes to condemn the violence and reaffirm its core principles of religious tolerance, respect, and peaceful coexistence, sources report that the local Jewish community is feeling shaken.

The day after the body of Rabbi Kogan was discovered, The Media Line spoke—on condition of anonymity—with a New York-based Jewish businessman who has maintained a longstanding relationship with the UAE. He takes a nuanced approach at this phase of The Project, having noted cooling friendships towards Jews after October 7, 2023.

“In the Emirates, the leadership is very ahead of the crowd, bold. … They said, ‘We’ll build a different future, one that is more inclusive.’ The population understood this, but after 10/7, as very, very difficult, harsh circumstances in Gaza and Lebanon emerged, the (local) population has expressed great sympathy for Palestinians being devastated by the brutal war,” he told The Media Line.

No one should be surprised by their allegiance to the Palestinian cause, he said. “The population of the UAE includes 150 different nationalities. The entirety of the Middle East is represented there. Schools cannot all be in sync with the message of tolerance when there is agitation at home.”

Tensions over Israel’s war in Gaza permeate the business realm as well. Since October 7, 2023, there has been a dampening of enthusiasm in the UAE about pursuing business relationships with Israel. While “business as usual” is still the motto, it is now being conducted beneath a cloak of silence.

Security concerns 

Since October 7, and especially now after the rabbi’s murder, the American businessman’s concerns for the security of Jews in the UAE have grown. Troubling comments have been made to colleagues at work and to Jewish children who attend local schools, he said.

“There is the sense that the love affair is over, the glow has been dimmed. Nobody should be shocked by that,” he added.

This has profoundly affected Jews’ daily lives there. After October 7, there were additional security concerns that forced the local Jewish community to stop all daily prayer services except for those in Abu Dhabi. “After 10/7, for principal reasons, they kept the Abrahamic Family house operational, because they can secure that, but they also don’t want people hosting haphazard prayer services,” the businessman said. The leadership knows there is an agitated population, he added. That is a brand-new reality.

When asked whether he has been affected by the sea change in the Emirates, he shrugged and said: “I am not living there. I arrive and go in and out of meetings.”

Others living and working in the region are unconcerned. For Kriel, the tragedy of Rabbi Kogan’s murder is personal, but not a threat to Jews in the UAE.

“What is the fallout?” he asked. “It’s a personal tragedy for the Kogan family in particular and for community members as well. Rabbi Kogan was somebody that we interacted with on a personal basis; a lovely human being. People are very upset, but my fundamental conviction is that the community will remain on its current course, patiently building Jewish life in the UAE, something that all of us are very passionate about.”

Although the intent of the murder might have been to undermine The Project, Kriel hopes that “it will have the opposite effect, motivate us to build this project,” he said.

Similarly, Gallagher, the filmmaker, remains confident that the upward trajectory of tolerance in the UAE will continue. “Ten or 15 years ago when the Jewish community in the UAE was still tiny and struggling to find its place, a terrible incident like this one might have stifled that growth,” he said. The fact that the Jewish community there is now so “strong and proud and embedded into the fabric of Emirati society, I don’t see them as being intimidated at all.”

“This was an awful and sobering incident, but the Jews there also know how rare such violence is in the UAE, and that vigilance and protection will be redoubled,” he added.

Rabbi Sarna, who also serves as a chaplain at New York University, which has seen its share of verbal violence and protests over the past year, is similarly reassured by the UAE’s staunch leadership and zero-tolerance approach to violence.

“The establishment of a Jewish community in the UAE has created a new center of gravity in the global Jewish map. While we are enduring the pain of Zvi's death, we are reassured by the rapid apprehension of the culprits and are recommitting ourselves to the original and historic journey of building Jewish life in this country,” he said.

The American businessman shared a forecast that includes the possibility of hope. “The real significance of the murder will be known only in the weeks ahead,” he said, adding that the Jews who live in the UAE are committed to living there.

“Some are transients, some old timers and new people have moved in since 10/7.” But they are there, he said, “because they believe in the message coming from the leadership, which he thinks is “100% sincere.”

An inclusive, tolerant, anti-extremist modern society is “the DNA of the Emirates,” he added. This mandate comes directly from Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the UAE president.

“This is his message to his nation. The UAE fights extremism and they believe in creating an open society with respect, stability, and safety for their citizens,” he asserted.

Two weeks after the murder of Rabbi Kogan, observers of The Project are wrestling with its legacy. “Obviously, safety is something that we are always considering. That being said, we’re focused on building back stronger,” Rabbi Motti Seligson, director of media relations at Chabad-Lubavitch, told The Media Line.

“This is what Rabbi Kogan dedicated his life to—helping others materially as well as spiritually and expanding and building Jewish life in the Emirates.”

The exhilaration of participating in The Project will help the Emirati Jewish community transcend this difficult moment, stated Kriel. “Most of us early pioneers, who came to Dubai 10 and 15 years ago, feel very passionate about how our community fits into the patchwork of religions and ethnicities. It is exciting to be here, engaging in a project of such hopefulness,” he said.

Gallagher, the filmmaker, frames the situation this way: “The birth of the Jewish community in the UAE was a miracle in the desert, and no one wants to see that miracle die.”