When news circulated that an Israeli plane was landing in Makhachkala on Sunday evening, some locals violently attacked the airport in pursuit of Israeli residents.
Makhachkala previously known as Petrovskoye and Port-Petrovsk, or by the local Kumyk name of Anji, is the capital and largest city of Dagestan, Russia.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish took this opportunity to tweet:
Appalling videos from Makhachkala, Russia, where an angry mob broke into the airport searching for Israeli citizens on the flight from Tel-Aviv.
This is not an isolated incident in Makhachkala, but rather part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits, and authorities. The Russian foreign minister has made a series of antisemitic remarks in the last year. The Russian President also used antisemitic slurs.
For Russian propaganda talking heads on official television, hate rhetoric is routine. Even the most recent Middle East escalation prompted antisemitic statements from Russian ideologists. Russian antisemitism and hatred toward other nations are systemic and deeply rooted. Hatred is what drives aggression and terror. We must all work together to oppose hatred.
How did Jewish passengers get attacked in Russia?
Those gathered allegedly chanted anti-Semitic slurs and attempted to storm the plane as it landed in Moscow from Tel Aviv, according to Russian media. Onlookers on the landing field were seen waving Palestinian flags in a video shared online.
Several pro-Palestinian protestors were seen in footage shared to social media crashing down terminal doors, storming onto the runway, and smashing over barricades to inspect automobiles exiting the airport.
In addition, a large number of people flocked to the airport. According to the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transportation (Rosaviatsia), the airport was temporarily closed, and inbound flights were rerouted to other destinations.
Dagestan’s administration said, “The situation is under control, law enforcement is working at the scene.”
Israel has asked Russia to safeguard Israelis and Jews.
Following rumors of potential reprisals by pro-Palestinian protestors in Dagestan, Israel has asked Russian authorities to safeguard Israelis and Jews in their territories.
According to a statement released by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Israeli ambassador in Russia is coordinating with local authorities. “The State of Israel views grave attempts to harm Israeli citizens and Jews anywhere,” said the press release.
“Israel expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to safeguard all Israeli citizens and Jews, whoever they may be, and to take robust action against the rioters and against the unbridled incitement being directed at Jews and Israelis,” stated a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
Rage against Jews in the North Caucasus
As crowds gathered at the local airport to search for Israelis, authorities urged them to desist from their “illegal acts” and urged locals not to “succumb to provocations.”
“We recommend that all persons who have violated the operating procedures of the (airport) facility not to continue illegal acts and not to interfere with the work of airport employees,” Dagestan’s official Telegram account stated.
As part of a larger tendency in the predominately Muslim region of the North Caucasus, the storming of Makhachkala airport was not an isolated occurrence.
Israelis attacked in a Russian Hotel
On Saturday, a report that Israeli migrants were sleeping at a hotel in the city of Khasavyurt in Dagestan prompted a mob of irate locals to surround the building. Several hundred guys, according to local sources, entered the hotel and purportedly checked the visitors’ passports.
Arcon on Jewish Community Center
On Sunday, arsonists torched tires outside a new Jewish community center in Nalchik. Security officials in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria said that extremist slogans, including “Death to the Jews,” were spray-painted on the building.
Remove Jews from the Republic
Additionally, protesters in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia have demanded that Jews be forcibly removed from the region.
