Anti-Jewish attacks are increasingly occurring in Russia’s Muslim-dominated North Caucasus. After a plane from Tel Aviv landed, hundreds of people stormed Makhachkala airport in Dagestan, according to media reports.
In the Muslim Russian republic of Dagestan, a crowd stormed Makhachkala airport after a plane from Tel Aviv landed there. This is reported by several news agencies. Numerous people also ran onto the airfield, as videos on social networks showed. The airfield was temporarily closed and incoming aircraft were diverted to other airports, the state aviation regulator Rosawiazija told the Tass agency.
Russian media reported that people in the crowd shouted anti-Semitic slogans and tried to storm the Russian airline Red Wings plane that landed from Tel Aviv. Videos on social media showed people on the landing site waving Palestinian flags.
The situation is under control again, the government of the Caucasus Republic reported on Telegram. Rosawiazija said security forces had cleared the area.
Israel: Russia must protect Israelis and Jews
Israeli authorities called on Russia to protect Israelis and Jews within its jurisdiction. “Israel expects Russian law enforcement authorities to protect all Israeli citizens and Jews, whoever they may be, and to take decisive action against the insurgents and against unbridled incitement against Jews and Israelis,” the State Department said in a statement.
There has recently been an increase in anti-Jewish attacks due to the Gaza conflict. On Saturday, a crowd of angry people surrounded a hotel in the city of Khasavyurt, Dagestan, because of a rumor that refugees from Israel were being housed there. The state agency Ria confirmed this incident. According to local reports, several dozen men broke into the hotel to allegedly check the passports of hotel guests. The police sealed off the hotel.
The situation is made worse by the fact that the evacuation flights for Russian citizens from Tel Aviv land in the North Caucasus, namely at the airports of Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody and Sochi. In the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Russian Muslims stand by their Palestinian brethren.
The head of the Republic of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, called on the population not to be incited by extremists who wanted to destabilize the situation. “Because of the fakes spread by our enemies, some very young people were on the verge of violating the laws,” he wrote on Telegram. The region’s Islamic clergy also made it clear: “Anti-Semitism has no place in the multi-ethnic North Caucasus.”