The Israeli ambassador to Moscow provided new details, on Wednesday, regarding the riots that took place at Mah Qala Airport in Dagestan, last Sunday, when a plane coming from Tel Aviv landed there.
Ambassador Alexander Ben Zvi said that some passengers had to hide at the airport before a helicopter took them to a safe location.
Ben Zvi blamed extremist elements for Sunday night’s unrest as a result of “ideological indoctrination” in the Muslim-majority Republic of Dagestan.
But overall, he said, there is no anti-Semitism “on an organized level” in Russia.
He added that the authorities must take the incident seriously, so that such behavior does not spread.
He continued: “Of course, there has always been, there is and there will be anti-Semitism on a daily level. The important thing is that the matter does not develop into what we saw in Makhachkala. If all this was under control, I think there would be no problems.”
Angry individuals stormed the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, when the plane coming from Israel landed there.
Hundreds of men, some carrying banners with anti-Semitic slogans, roamed the airport building and rushed onto the runway in search of Israeli passengers.
It took several hours before the authorities were able to disperse the crowds, as the police were pelted with stones.
At least twenty people, both police and civilians, were injured, and the authorities arrested more than eighty people.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened an investigation into accusations of organizing mass unrest.
Authorities in Dagestan said 17 people were convicted of minor hooliganism and participating in an unauthorized mass event, neither of which were criminal charges, and fifteen of them were given short prison sentences, while the remaining two were ordered to carry out correctional work.
It remains unclear whether the dozens of others arrested Sunday night will face any charges, or whether any of them will be subject to criminal investigation.
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2023-11-01 15:13:23
