Hundreds of people stormed the main airport in the Russian region of Dagestan and the landing strip on Sunday evening to confront Jewish passengers aboard a flight from Israel. Violence in the predominantly Muslim region that erupted during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza prompted Israel to call on Russia to protect its citizens.
The protesters, many of whom shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest), broke through doors and barriers, some running onto the runway, according to videos posted on social media and Russian media outlets RT and Izvestia.
“There were hundreds there [Makhachkala] Airport. About 50 men approached the plane and asked the passengers if they were Jews. I said no. I am Russian. They wanted to see my passport. I had a Russian passport. They stayed there and then withdrew at a certain point,” an eyewitness said in a recording obtained by Carmel News, a Telegram channel focused on Russia and Ukraine.
According to Alex Bendersky, a Russian-speaking Israeli who covered the incident for Carmel News, none of the passengers were injured in the incident.
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Many of the men in the crowd carried Palestinian flags. They came after another Telegram channel called for men to arrive at the airport to confront passengers on Russian airline Red Wings flight WZ 4728, which took off from Tel Aviv. The messages urged rioters to “avenge Gaza,” a reference to Israel’s war against Hamas that erupted when terrorists carried out an unprecedented massacre in southern Israeli cities on Oct. 7, killing about 1,400 people.
The website Flightradar said a Red Wings plane from Tel Aviv landed in Makhachkala at 7 p.m. The independent Russian media outlet Sota said it was a transit flight that was scheduled to take off again for Moscow two hours later.
Israeli strikes have since killed more than 8,000 people in Gaza, according to officials in the Hamas-controlled area. The figures published by the terrorist group cannot be independently verified. They are believed to include their own members killed in Gaza. According to Israel, the victims include hundreds of Palestinian rockets mistakenly aimed at Israel that have landed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.
Dagestan is a Muslim-majority state in Russia where federal and local authorities have struggled for years to quell an Islamist insurgency. There is a dwindling Jewish community, mostly concentrated in Derbent, near the border with Azerbaijan. At Dagestani border crossings, Israelis are often kept away from the general passenger population for fear of hostilities.
Videos from Sunday’s incident showed rioters approaching the plane after it landed from Israel and buses that airport authorities provided to passengers to transport them out of the airport. A video showed two children on board a bus while men shouted at passengers outside the vehicle. An airport security van could be seen in the background.
In the videos, a protester could be seen holding a sign that read, “Child murderers have no place in Dagestan.” Other videos showed a crowd in an airport terminal trying to break down doors as staff tried to scare them away.
Although police were seen arresting at least three people on the tarmac outside the plane, officers did not initially intervene, according to Boruch Gorin, a spokesman for Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar.
“The crowd is checking cars leaving the airport, looking for people, looking for Jews. No police in sight. They broke into the airport building,” Gorin wrote on Facebook.
According to Carmel News, there were Dagestan children on board the plane who had undergone medical treatment in Israel.
In a statement Sunday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “Israel expects the Russian authorities to protect all Israeli citizens and all Jews and to take decisive action against the rioters and incitement to violence against Jews and Israelis.”
In a statement, Lazar called on clergy in Dagestan “not to allow the bridges between people of faith to be burned.” Dagestan’s top mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Afandi Abdulaev, called for an end to the unrest, saying: “This is not the way to protest.”
Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis and former chief rabbi of Moscow, called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “issue a decisive instruction against any acts of violence and pogroms against Jews in his country.”
Shortly after the incident, Russia’s aviation authority Rossavitsia announced that it had closed the airport to arriving and departing flights and that security forces had arrived on site.
“The situation is under control, law enforcement agencies are operating on site,” said a statement from the government of the Russian Republic of Dagestan published on Telegram. Rossavitsia later announced that the airport had been “liberated” from the mob and would remain closed until November 6.
The Combat Antisemitism Movement, a prominent group founded in 2019, linked the incident to the global anti-Semitic incitement that peaked after the October 7 Hamas attack.
“This latest egregious lynching attempt in Dagestan, coupled with many other events around the world, including Saturday’s ‘Flooding Brooklyn for Gaza’ event, sadly demonstrates that this is open season for Jews,” said Sacha Roytman Dratwa, CEO of CAM . “We call on the authorities to use all means at their disposal to take action against anti-Semites.”
In a Telegram post, the Dagestan government urged citizens “not to continue illegal actions and not to interfere in the work of airport employees.” The text read: “It is not easy for any of us to witness the inhumane massacre of a civilian population – the Palestinian people. At the same time, we call on the residents of the republic not to give in to the provocations of destructive groups and not to create panic in society.”
The head of the Russian Republic of Dagestan later condemned the mob and announced punishment.
“All Dagestanis understand the suffering of the victims of the acts of unjust people and politicians and pray for peace in Palestine. But what happened at our airport is outrageous and should be judged accordingly by law enforcement authorities,” Sergei Melikov, the governor of the republic, said on Telegram. “That will happen.”
Early Sunday, a Jewish center under construction in Dagestan was set on fire and the words “Death to the Jews” were written on the walls.
Ze’ev Elkin, a Ukrainian-born member of Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party who often acted as a translator for Israeli prime ministers in talks with Russian President Putin, said the mob that overran the airport was no accident or coincidence , but rather the consequence of the attitude of the Russian political leadership after the Hamas massacre of Israelis.
“There are radical Islamic groups in these areas, but what is happening today is not a coincidence,” he said in an interview with Channel 12.
Noting that Russia’s deputy foreign minister gave a “royal reception” to a Hamas delegation in Moscow on Thursday, he said the Hamas delegates claimed they had been told that Russian military schools had been following the “success” of the regime for years Israel would study the attack on the south on October 7th.
Left to right: Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Putin’s special envoy for the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov, and Hamas international relations chief Mousa Abu Marzouk during a trilateral meeting in Moscow on October 26, 2023 .(Hamas Telegram channel)
“If that is the type of discussion, then there are obviously radical Islamic groups that come to the conclusion: It is allowed.” [to carry out attacks like the one in Dagestan]Elkin said.
Elkin noted that Russian Jewish organizations have told Russian Jews “not to think about holding demonstrations in support of Israel.” That wasn’t the case before. The atmosphere used to be different.”
Agencies contributed to this report.