A senior Russian rabbi today called on the Kremlin to ensure that the unrest in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan who stormed the capital’s airport to “catch” Jews on a flight from Tel Aviv; they will be severely punished.

Video obtained by Reuters from the airport in Dagestan’s regional capital, Makhachkala, showed the rioters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, breaking glass doors and running through the airport on Sunday night shouting “Allahu Akbar” or “God is Great”.

A group was seen trying to overturn a police patrol carwhile another video showed commotion on the runway surrounding a Red Wings plane that had arrived from Tel Aviv.

A placard held by rioters – according to a social media post that could not be confirmed – reportedly read: “No place for child killers in Dagestan.” Another post read: “We are against Jewish refugees.”

Shmuel, 26, an Israeli citizen and one of the passengers, told Israeli outlet Ynet that police had put the passengers on a bus, which was then chased around the airport by rioters, some of whom managed to board this.

“The bus kept going in circles… and people were chasing it and throwing stones. I put my suitcase in the window,” he said. “At one point, hundreds of people came and stopped the bus. They went inside, went to each passenger and asked if he was a Muslim or a Jew. I said that I am a Muslim, because I was very afraid. Fortunately, they believed me and continued,” he said.

Rabbi Alexander Boroda, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, called for a tough response. In a statement, Boroda said the uprising “undermined the basic foundations of our multicultural and multi-ethnic state” and that anti-Israel sentiment fueled by events in the Middle East had turned into aggression against Russian Jews.

“Furthermore, we see that the local authorities were not prepared for such incidents and allowed large-scale violations of law and order and mass demonstrations with open threats against Jews and Israelis,” said Boroda. “I call on the country’s leadership and law enforcement agencies to find and punish all the organizers and participants of these anti-Semitic actions in the strictest possible way,” he said.

The crowd gathered at the airport after a message on the Telegram messaging app urged Dagestanis to meet the “uninvited guests” and force passengers on the flight to turn back and go elsewhere.

The message, which was posted on the “Utro Dagestan” Telegram channel, did not use the word “Jew” but referred to the plane’s passengers as “unclean.” “We must wait for them on the road outside the airport and catch them before they make their way,” the message said.

Police said they made an arrest 60 people in connection with the riots and identified 150 of the most active participants.

Israel’s ambassador to Russia was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying that no Israeli citizens had been injured during the riots and that all had been evacuated safely.

Makhachkala airport resumed normal operations this afternoon, Russia’s civil aviation authority said, but said flights from Israel would be temporarily diverted to other cities in Russia.

Western attempt to “divide Russian society”

The Kremlin announced that President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting today to discuss how the West is trying to use the crisis in the Middle East to divide Russian society.

The unrest in Dagestan, where Russian security forces once battled an Islamist insurgency, is a headache for Putin, who is waging war in Ukraine and keen to maintain domestic stability ahead of an expected presidential election next year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the violence was the result of “external influence” and that “evildoers” used images of the suffering in Gaza to rouse the world.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that Sunday’s attack on Makhachkala airport in the Dagestan region by an angry anti-Israel crowd was the result of a “provocation” orchestrated outside Russia, with Ukraine playing a role. “direct and key role”.

Zakharova cited online sources linked to Russian former MP Ilya Panomaryov, who lives in Ukraine as a self-proclaimed anti-Kremlin rebel. Panmaryov stated that he was an investor in the Utro Dagestan Telegram channel, but no longer had anything to do with it.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said Kiev had nothing to do with anti-Israel riots in Russia’s predominantly Muslim Dagestan region, dismissing Russia’s accusation as baseless.

“Of course, Ukraine has nothing to do with the latest large-scale wave of xenophobic sentiments on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Mykhailo Podoliak told Reuters in a written statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the events on Sunday, saying they characterized Russia’s “widespread culture of hatred towards other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits and authorities”.

The riots followed several other anti-Semitic incidents in recent days in Russia’s North Caucasus region in response to Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza. Israel called on Russian authorities to protect Israelis and Jews in their jurisdictions.

In recent days, an under-construction Jewish center in Nalchik, the capital of the neighboring Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, was set on fire, emergency officials said.

Russia, which wants an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and supports a two-state solution, has tried to maintain contact with all sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict, but angered Israeli authorities by inviting a Hamas delegation to Moscow. Israel’s foreign ministry on Sunday summoned the Russian ambassador to explain.