Pogroms of Jews. Big scandal in Dagestan

On Sunday night, a crowd entered the Makhachkala airport building and then headed to the airport to prevent the arrival of “refugees from Israel.”

Russia is returning to the 19th century Jewish pogroms. At Makhachkala airport, a crowd of angry Dagestanis, shouting anti-Semitic slogans, broke down the doors in search of Jews who had allegedly arrived on a flight from Tel Aviv. First, in search of Jews, protesters began checking the documents of people leaving the airport. So, in particular, a young man who claimed to be an Uzbek was mistaken for a Jew – about 20 people surrounded him and refused to return his passport. A big scandal happened. Airport operations were paralyzed; planes that were supposed to land were redirected to other airports. Passengers on the flight from Dubai, who arrived in Makhachkala, said that because of the angry crowd they were not allowed to get off the plane for another five hours after arrival.

Are they blaming Ukraine again?

More than twenty people were injured in the riots. The airport itself was badly damaged: warehouses were destroyed and shops were looted.

The leader of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, who commented on the unrest, said that no one would be spared. He put the responsibility for what happened on the telegram channel Morning of Dagestan, which is “managed and controlled from the territory of Ukraine – by traitors, Banderaites.”

Melikov also said that shortcomings were made in the information work of law enforcement agencies.

Last weekend, rumors began to spread in Dagestan that “refugees from Israel” could be settled in the republic. On Saturday night, amid these rumors, residents of another Dagestan city, Khasavyurt, attacked hotels.

Such information was published, in particular, by the channel Morning of Dagestan, launched by the former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, who left for Ukraine. In the midst of the chaos, Ponomarev said that he no longer had anything to do with the channel, although a few months ago, in a conversation with journalists, he called it his own.

Melikov suggested that riot participants wash away their shame by going to fight in Ukraine. The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin would hold a major meeting on Monday to discuss “the West’s attempts to use events in the Middle East to divide Russian society.” The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the speakers of both houses of the Russian parliament and the heads of the security bloc – the Prosecutor General, the head of the Investigative Committee, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, the heads of FSB, Foreign Intelligence Service, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Russian Guard, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Eyewitness memories

Passengers who found themselves in the center of attention of pogromists remember the fear they experienced at Makhachkala airport. Mediazona spoke with a passenger flying from Tel Aviv to Moscow with a transfer in Makhachkala. He told how rioters attacked a bus at the airport.

“People from the bus shouted to them that we are Russians, showed us our red passports, shouted which cities they came from: Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Moscow,” he said. — Almost all are Russians, but many have dual citizenship. We have a person with us from Israel who speaks Russian very well.”

“The bus stopped at one point and we were surrounded. They threw stones and broke the glass. They hit the windows. It was very, scary, I didn’t see everything, because I was sitting next to the hallway, and not next to the window, and we covered some of the windows with dark curtains, “added the interlocutor of the publication. “It’s like forever, and the people outside didn’t listen to what they were being told. They heard, but didn’t care. It was so scary.”

He and the other passengers on the flight from Tel Aviv were later taken by helicopter to a military base, and in the morning the helicopter took them to the airport in Mineralnye Vody.

Shmuel from Jerusalem, who witnessed the pogroms, spoke about his experience in an interview with the newspaper Ynet. He was also on a bus that was blocked by rioters in Makhachkala. Of the 45 passengers, he said, 15 were Israelis. He added that there were also children on board who had returned from treatment, including one child who was on a ventilator.

“People were running down the runway and throwing stones at us. Children screamed, one girl was injured by shards of broken glass. It’s so scary. The airport bus is spinning, people are chasing us, rocks are flying. I cover the window with my suitcase,” said Shmuel.

He added that the bus did not survive the pursuit and people managed to stop the bus. According to him, those who entered started asking the passengers if they were Muslim or Jewish. Some of the Israelis on the bus spoke Russian.

“I don’t speak Russian, but an Israeli who speaks helps me. I answer that I’m Muslim, I’m afraid to die. Fortunately, they believe me. I saw death on the bus. If they gave me a serious interrogation, they’ll know I’m Israeli,” the man said.