Anti-Israel protesters storm Dagestan airport ‘searching for passengers from Tel Aviv’

Hundreds of people have stormed the main airport in Russia’s Dagestan region where a plane from Tel Aviv had arrived, chanting antisemitic slogans and seeking passengers from Israel.

More than 20 people were injured in the demonstration, local health officials said, and authorities were forced to close the airport and divert flights.

Video on social media showed some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags and others trying to overturn a police car.

Antisemitic slogans could be heard being shouted and some in the crowd examined the passports of arriving passengers, apparently in an attempt to identify those who were Israeli.

Some signs held by the rioters read “We are against Jewish refugees”, the Guardian reported.

Video obtained by the Reuters news agency showed mostly young men breaking down glass doors and running through the airport shouting “Allahu Akbar” or “God is Greatest”.

The passengers on the plane were “in a safe place”, security forces told Reuters.

Israel urged Russian authorities to protect Israelis and Jews in their jurisdictions following the reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israel “expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis.”

A statement by the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said the Israeli ambassador in Moscow was working with Russian authorities. “The State of Israel views gravely attempts to harm Israelis citizens and Jews anywhere,” the statement said.

The incident comes after a Jewish centre under construction in Nalchik, the capital of the nearby Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, was also set on fire.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs for Russia’s North Caucasian Federal District, where Dagestan is located, said that CCTV footage would be used to establish the identities of those who stormed the airport and that those involved would be brought to justice.