Riot over plane from Israel alarms Jews and provokes condemnation

An uprising in southern Russia in which rioters stormed an airport tarmac apparently looking for Jewish passengers on a flight from Israel has shocked Jews in Russia and beyond, drawing condemnation from the Israeli government and prompting the Kremlin to call an unscheduled meeting to address the clashes. .

Hundreds of young men stormed the main airport in the predominantly Muslim republic of Dagestan on Sunday evening, seeking a commercial flight from Tel Aviv. Videos and some images on social media showed some rioters holding Palestinian flags and carrying signs opposing the war in Gaza, possibly spurred on by a Telegram messaging channel urging them to “capture” the passengers of the incoming flight from Israel.

The Israeli government said in a statement on Monday that it expected Russian authorities to protect all Israeli citizens and Jews and take strong action against the rioters. They described the event as “wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis.”

At least twenty people were injured in the riot and dozens were arrested. The government in the predominantly Muslim republic said on Monday the eruption had calmed down and vowed to prevent further clashes. Russian aviation authorities said the airport in Makhachkala, the republic’s capital, would reopen on Tuesday.

The uprising highlighted the challenges the Kremlin faces in governing different parts of its vast multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. Ethnic tensions in the North Caucasus are a major risk factor for overall Russian stability, given the recent history of war in the region and terrorist incidents in Chechnya and Dagestan.

It also underscored how the Kremlin’s decision to distance itself from Israel and the Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza could cause instability at home. Russia has about 25 million Muslims, including at least two million in Moscow, and this population is growing rapidly.

In recent days, President Vladimir V. Putin has taken steps that indicate growing concern that the war between Israel and Hamas could lead to ethnic conflict in Russia.

He gathered faith leaders in the Kremlin last week to discuss it, saying that “interethnic and interreligious agreement is the basis of the Russian state.” And Hamas representatives were in Moscow last week, prompting Israel to do so Call the Russian ambassador in Tel Aviv to complain.

The Russians on Monday blamed outsiders for instigating the unrest. Dmitry S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, blamed “outside interference” for causing the riots, but cited no evidence.

Speaking on Monday at a meeting on the crisis in Dagestan, Mr Putin blamed Western special services for the uprising. “Last night’s events in Makhachkala were initiated, among other things, through social networks, not least from Ukrainian territory,” he said, repeating his claims that the United States was responsible for the crisis in Israel.

The Russian leader has identified inter-ethnic and inter-religious agreement in Russia as a policy priority. Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic protests in the North Caucasus, which includes Dagestan, where Mr Putin fought his first war as Russian leader, could jeopardize that at a time when the Kremlin is also waging a long and bloody war in Ukraine .

Any instability in Russia is good for Ukraine, which has recruited disaffected Muslims, including Chechens, since 2014. Trying to destabilize Muslim minorities is a long-standing approach to fighting Russia, used by the Germans in World War II and, according to the Russian view, by the West in the 1980s during Russia’s war in Afghanistan.

Dagestan’s government blamed pro-Ukrainian plotters for the airport clashes, saying they had incited the crowd to foment unrest in Russia.

Videos and images shared on social media showed a chaotic scene at Makhachkala airport. Verified by The New York Times in one video, a group of dozens of men, some carrying Palestinian flags, swarm a parked plane from the Red Wings aircraft carrier, apparently after the passengers had disembarked. “There are no more passengers here,” a man in a yellow safety vest tells the rioters, pointing to the plane. He adds: “I am Muslim.”

In another video verified by The Times, filmed from an airplane on the tarmac, a crew member is heard announcing, “Please remain seated and do not attempt to open the aircraft door. There is an angry crowd outside.”

Some protests were supported by a Telegram channel which discussed plans to ‘capture’ the flight’s passengers, along with screenshots of the flight schedule. Pavel Durov, the Russian entrepreneur who owns Telegram, said he would block the channel.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, the country’s leading organization uniting Jews, said in a rack on Monday that local authorities in the Caucasus “were not ready for such incidents and allowed a massive violation of the law.”

“But it is difficult to call this incompetence – the heads of the republics probably could not have imagined that the multinational Caucasus would be gripped by such unrest,” said the head of the organization, Rabbi Aleksandr Boroda.

This is reported by the regional police a statement that they had determined that 150 people had actively participated in the riot and all that 83 had been arrested. Nine police officers were injured in the clashes, two of whom were hospitalized, the statement said.

Dagestan’s Health Ministry said a total of 20 people were injured, including police officers and civilians. Four of them were still being treated in a hospital on Monday, including three police officers and one civilian, the ministry said said.

The police said that local investigators had opened a criminal investigation and promised that anyone who took part would be held accountable.

Sergei Melikov, the head of Dagestan, condemned the rioterssaying: “There was no honor in swearing at strangers, reaching into their pockets and checking their passports,” referring to reports that some of those who stormed the airport had asked bystanders there to prove their nationality.

There were also reports of anti-Israel protests in the North Caucasus, a flammable area in Russia’s south. On Saturday, dozens of people gathered outside a hotel in the city of Khasavyurt, Dagestan, after posts on social media claimed it was ‘full of Jews’. About 200 people also gathered in the central square of Cherkessk, the capital of the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic, to protest against the possible arrival of Israeli refugees. local news media reported.

Russia has gone to extraordinary lengths to quash protests over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which it falsely claimed was fought to rid the country of “Nazis.”

Aleksandr Verkhovsky, an analyst on interethnic relations and xenophobia at the Sova Center in Moscow, said the war in Ukraine has “radicalized Russian society.” That radicalization could explain how genuine protest in support of civilians in Gaza could turn into an anti-Semitic mob, he said.

“People are becoming more aggressive and are being infected by the aggressive propaganda,” Mr. Verkhovsky said.

Ukrainian officials were quick to view the events in Russia as a reflection of a deeper culture of hatred that the Kremlin had fomented for years.

“For Russian propaganda talking heads on official television, hate rhetoric is routine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a statement, pointing to the “terrible videos” coming out of Dagestan. “Hate is what drives aggression and terror. We must all work together to fight hate.”

Andrew E. Kramer and Marc Santora contributed from Kiev, Ukraine. Isabel Kershner and Aric Toler also contributed to the reporting.