An Angry Mob Stormed an Airport in Russia Hunting for Israelis

Sixty people were arrested and 20 wounded when a mob stormed an airport in the Russian region of Dagestan on Sunday evening hunting for passengers on a flight arriving from Israel.

Footage of the incident in Makhachkala, capital of the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan, showed a crowd of men running through the airport, rushing the runway and surrounding a plane. Some waved Palestinian flags or chanted “Allahu akbar.” One clip showed an airline employee shouting at departing passengers to get back on a plane as a mob ran across the runway towards them.

Local media reported that protesters were also stopping cars outside the airport demanding to see identity documents.

Twenty people were injured in the unrest, with 10 hospitalised, before security forces took control of the situation, local authorities said. Nobody on board the flight from Israel was harmed, according to reports.

Russia’s state-run RIA news agency reported that nine police officers were injured in the incident, two of whom were being treated in hospital. It said that investigators who had opened a criminal case into the “mass disturbance” at the airport had so far identified 150 of the protesters.

Russia’s Rosaviatsia aviation agency said Makhachkala’s airport was closed due to the incident, with flights being redirected elsewhere.

The incident followed calls on local Telegram pages urging people to show up at the airport and confront any arriving Israelis.

In response to the incident, Israel called on Russian authorities to protect Israelis and Jews on its territory. 

“The state of Israel views gravely attempts to harm Israeli citizens and Jews everywhere,” the office of Israel’s prime minister said in a statement. “Israel expects Russian law enforcement authorities to safeguard the welfare of all Israeli citizens and Jews and act decisively against rioters and against wild incitement directed at Jews and Israelis.”

The United States also condemned the incident, with US presidential spokesperson Adrienne Watson tweeting that "the United States vigorously condemns the antisemitic protests in Dagestan.”

"The US unequivocally stands with the entire Jewish community as we witness a worldwide surge in antisemitism. There is never any excuse or justification for antisemitism," the White House National Security Council Spokesperson said.

In a call with reporters on Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed the incident on the influence of “outside interference, including information influence,” but did not elaborate further.

The anti-Jewish scenes at the airport were not isolated acts in the North Caucasus. Earlier, crowds had gathered outside a hotel in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt, calling for Israelis who they believed were inside to come out, while a planned Jewish centre was set alight in Nalchik, in the nearby region of Kabardino-Balkaria, with the phrase “death to Jews” written on the building.

The incident has sparked concerns about the safety of Dagestan’s Jewish minority, which is estimated to number about 800 families. “The Jewish world is very concerned about the thousands of Jews living in Dagestan,” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt,president of the Conference of European Rabbis, told The Times.