Dagestan: An anti-Semitic mob attacked a flight from Tel Aviv airport

Status: 01:55 am | Reading Time: 3 minutes

WBecause of the Gaza conflict, attacks against Jews in Russia’s Muslim-dominated North Caucasus are on the rise. A crowd of people forced their way into the airport in Makhachkala, Dagestan Republic, on Sunday evening after a flight from Tel Aviv, allegedly carrying refugees from Israel, landed.

Many people rushed to the airport. Videos posted on social media show men breaking through fences, kicking down doors in the terminal and trying to search cars leaving the airport. Some waved Palestinian flags or shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) and anti-Semitic slogans.

Some of those involved checked the passports of arriving passengers to identify them as Israelis. Russian media reports suggest that attempts were made to hijack the plane owned by Russian company Red Wings.

According to the Russian Civil Aviation Authority, the airport was temporarily closed and security forces were deployed. The government of the Caucasus Republic said in a telegram that the situation is back under control. He called on the mob to stop all “illegal activities”.

According to the Dagestan Ministry of Health, more than 20 people were injured – police officers and civilians. Two of the injured are in critical condition.

Later in the evening, the Russian Civil Aviation Authority announced that the airport was “free for citizens who entered without permission”. The airport will remain closed till November 6.

After the incident, Israel asked Russia to protect all Israeli citizens. His country expects Russian authorities to “protect all Israeli citizens and all Jews and take decisive action against rioters and incitement of violence against Jews and Israelis,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

The men break into the hotel and hunt down the Israelis

On Saturday, an angry crowd surrounded a hotel in the Dagestan city of Kasavyurt over rumors that it was hosting refugees from Israel. State agency RIA confirmed the incident. According to local reports, several dozen men entered the hotel to check the passports of hotel guests. The police sealed the restaurant.

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The situation worsens as evacuation flights for Russian citizens land in Tel Aviv in the North Caucasus, i.e. at Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody and Sochi airports. In the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Russian Muslims stand by their Palestinian brethren.

In Nalchik, tires were set on fire next to an under-construction Jewish cultural center on Sunday, Riya news agency reported. According to security officials of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, the building was covered with extremist slogans. According to the photos, it read “Death to the Jews”. In the Republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, demonstrators called for the expulsion of the local Jewish population.

Dagestan’s president threatens to punish rebels

The President of the Republic of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, announced that all participants in the attack on the airport should be punished. “All residents of Dagestan feel the suffering of the victims of the actions of reprehensible people and politicians and pray for peace in Palestine,” he wrote in a telegram. “But what happened at our airport is outrageous and must be dealt with by law enforcement.”

Melikov also called on people not to allow themselves to be provoked by extremists who want to destabilize the situation. “Because of fakes spread by our enemies, some young people were on the verge of breaking the law,” he wrote in a telegram. The region’s Islamic clerics also clarified: “There is no place for anti-Semitism in the multi-ethnic North Caucasus.”

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President Vladimir Putin met with leaders of religions represented in Russia last week because of the ongoing war in the Middle East. He called for peaceful coexistence among peoples and religions in the great country.