‘The provocations found fertile ground’ A journalist from Dagestan explains what he believes led to Makhachkala’s anti-Semitic airport riot
On the evening of October 29, hundreds of Dagestan residents broke into the airport in the region’s capital city, Makhachkala. Over the several hours that followed, rioters effectively took over the airport, broke through to the tarmac, and made their way to a plane from Tel Aviv, which they tried to storm in search of Israeli citizens. (Fortunately, they failed to get into the aircraft.) The airport attack was the latest in a larger series of anti-Semitic incidents that have taken place in Russia’s North Caucasus region in recent weeks. The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the riot. Local officials, meanwhile, have blamed the wave of anti-Semitic crimes on “enemies” influencing Russia from the outside. The Kremlin announced Monday that Vladimir Putin will hold a “major meeting” with top officials to discuss the situation. For insight into how local residents view the situation, Meduza spoke to an independent journalist from Dagestan.
Please note: Meduza is publishing this interview to shed light on how the recent anti-Semitic incidents in Dagestan are viewed by the republic’s residents. We understand that the opinions expressed in this article might upset many readers, and we want to remind you that we regularly publish interviews with people whose perspectives do not align with our own (or with those of our readers).
Nobody expected things to develop this way — for several thousand people to go to an airport to catch Jews. Although people in Dagestan, like people throughout the North Caucasus region, have been deeply impacted by the events happening in Gaza.
Dagestan residents see new videos of bombings and shelling attacks on the Gaza Strip, as well as the corpses of women and children, practically every day. They see stories about entire families of innocent people dying while nobody from the world’s leading powers interferes in the situation or does anything to stop the violence. That’s where the increase in hatred towards Israel, whose army is methodically and “humanely” destroying women, children, hospitals, mosques, and churches with white phosphorus munitions, is coming from. To say nothing of the destruction of ordinary Palestinians’ homes.
[Despite all this], there were certainly provocateurs [on October 29] as well. But the provocations found fertile ground… Things have been tense in [Dagestani] society for a while now. And even aside from international politics, the region is in a state of stress and outrage. For internal reasons. Primarily because of poor living conditions.
It’s young Dagestanis who take part in these kinds of protests: ordinary, concerned residents of the republic who misjudged the situation and may have mistakenly believed that banning Jews from entering the republic would change something. As far as [former Russian State Duma deputy] Ilya Ponomarev is concerned, I highly doubt they know anything about him. Maybe somebody heard something, but I don’t think they attached any great significance to him. At the end of the day, it’s not important who owned the channel that provoked people into going out [to the airport].
What happened [on October 29] came as a surprise to the authorities. [But] they stepped in and [are now] in full control of the situation. [The participants in the anti-Semitic riot] can expect criminal charges, court, and punishment.
I wouldn’t expect [the situation to escalate further or to see more anti-Jewish riots]. Dagestani Jews are our compatriots, they’re Dagestanis. And in areas where they constitute a high proportion of the population, mainly in Derbent, their Muslim neighbors would not let anybody harm them. Most of Dagestani society understands that Israel has fascist leaders who have nothing to do with ordinary Jews. Passions will settle down sooner or later. The situation in Gaza will force world leaders to make a choice: continue the genocide and provoke uncontrollable aggression from the Islamic world, or put an end to it.
What’s his name?
The Russian authorities have banned Meduza as an “undesirable organization,” which means that anyone who “participates or cooperates” with us can face felony prosecution. At the request of the person we interviewed for this article, we have omitted his name from the text.
Ilya Ponomarev?
In the leadup to Sunday’s riot, a Telegram channel that was originally launched by former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, who left Russia in 2014 and gained Ukrainian citizenship in 2019, called on Dagestan residents to go to the airport to search for “refugees from Israel.” After rioters stormed the airport, Ponomarev denied having any ties to the Telegram channel, though several months ago, he claimed that he sponsors it.
Israel’s use of white phosphorus
Human Rights Watch has reported that white phosphorus munitions have been fired in Gaza in recent weeks. The Israeli Defense Forces have denied using the weapon. However, Israel forces have admitted to using the weapon in the past and have vowed not to use it in areas that contain civilians.