Israel Wants Russia To Tackle Hatred After Anti-Israel Crowd Storms Airport
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel on Monday urged Russia’s government to act against antisemitism after an anti-Israel mob stormed an airport in Russia, but Moscow blamed “outside interference” for the incident.
Footage showed an angry mob of hundreds of people, believed to be mainly Muslims, rushing into the airport in the city of Makhachkala in Russia’s Dagestan region. They reportedly tried to find Jews and others arriving from Tel Aviv, Israel.
The airport in the city of Makhachkala in Russia’s Dagestan region was closed after protesters reached the runway, the Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia said.
Some were observed shouting antisemitic slogans and waving Palestinian flags.
Rosaviatsia said the situation was now under control as officers arrived on the scene. However, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it “views gravely attempts to harm Israeli citizens and Jews anywhere.”
The ministry stressed that “Israel expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to safeguard all Israeli citizens and Jews, whoever they may be, and to take robust action against the rioters and against the unbridled incitement being directed at Jews and Israelis.”
Most residents in Dagestan are Muslim, while Jewish people represent a minority group in Russia – accounting for about 83,000 people in the entire country.
RUSSIA BLAMES WEST
Yet, as anger mounted, Russia was quick to suggest that the West played a role in Sunday’s airport attack. “Yesterday’s events at Makhachkala airport are, to a large extent, the result of external interference,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was to meet with his top advisers, including the defense minister and spy chiefs, later Monday to discuss “the West’s attempts to use the events in the Middle East to split Russian society,” Peskov added.
The airport incident also added to mounting Israeli-Russian tensions over Israel’s declared war against Hamas. On Sunday, Israel summoned the Russian ambassador to protest at Moscow’s hosting last week of a delegation from Hamas, which killed 1,400 people in Israel on October 7.
Inviting Hamas “sends a message legitimizing terrorism against Israelis,” Israel’s foreign ministry said, quoting its senior staff as telling Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov. It described the summons as a protest rather than a reprimand.
Russia had described its hosting of Hamas as an effort to maintain contact with all sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but Israel and most Western nations view Hamas as a terrorist organization.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, shares Israel’s concerns and made clear that violent “antisemitic” anti-Israel protests, such as at the Russian airport, are unacceptable.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the “United States vigorously condemns the antisemitic protests in Dagestan, Russia.”
The U.S. “unequivocally stands with the entire Jewish community as we witness a worldwide surge in antisemitism,” he wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “There is never any excuse or justification for antisemitism.”
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