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On Sunday evening, a crowd of people broke into the international airport of Makhachkala, the capital of the republic of Dagestan, in southern Russia, apparently to try to somehow attack passengers on a plane coming from Israel. In a series of videos released by Russian media and on social networks, a large number of people can be seen running inside the airport and then on the runway, around the plane. According to Russian media reports, the crowd of people gathered outside and then inside the airport, which has now been closed, was protesting against Israel’s military intervention in the Gaza Strip, using anti-Semitic slogans; In the videos of the airport you can see some Palestinian flags. The majority of the population of Dagestan is Muslim.
Some of them tried to storm the plane, per Izvestia pic.twitter.com/bwJuMGH57g
— max seddon (@maxseddon) October 29, 2023
Haaretz and the Times of Israel, citing their own anonymous sources within the Israeli army, said that a “relatively small” number of Israeli and Jewish people were at the airport, “isolated and safe”, and that Israeli authorities were working to clear them out. away and take a flight to Moscow as soon as possible. The Russian News Agency RIA said Dagestan authorities had launched an investigation into people who took part in the airport raid and protest.
The plane attacked by the crowd had taken off from Tel Aviv and belongs to the Russian company Red Wings. There are often air connections between the Israeli city and Makhachkala airport, which serves as a stopover for other destinations, such as Moscow; connections have also been made more frequent in recent weeks following an increase in demand.
After the Rosaviatsia attack, the Russian civil aviation authority decided that Makhachkala airport will remain closed until November 6.
Now on the runway pic.twitter.com/mbQOHXvQ2C
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) October 29, 2023
No Jews were found but the mayhem in the Makhachkala airport in Russia’s north Caucasus goes on. pic.twitter.com/UPJg0WekBe
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) October 29, 2023
In recent days, Russian media have reported various demonstrations against Israel in the Caucasus region, where Dagestan is also located and where the majority of the population is Muslim. On Saturday a crowd of people surrounded a hotel in Khasavyurt, another city in the region, after news spread that a group of Israelis were staying there: according to Russian media reports, several dozen people entered the hotel demanding to check guests’ passports.
It appears that the attack on the airport was sparked by rumors that a group of people fleeing Israel had been sheltered in Dagestan.
A small Jewish community also lives in Dagestan, around 800 families, half of which in the city of Derbent; they are considering leaving, Rabbi Ovadya Isakov told the small Russian news site Podium.