Exactly five years ago, Maj. Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan and I entered the modest conference hall in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. We looked at the audience that had been brought to hear the speakers of the conference, which dealt with the war on terror, and we could hardly hold ourselves back from bursting into laughter of astonishment.
Some of those present in the hall reflected, at least in their outward appearance, the most widespread terrorist threat in the world: their clothes, beards, and headscarves matched the profile of ISIS operatives, who at the time frequently appeared on television screens all over the world.
"They are indeed a hard nut to crack," one of the conference organizers remarked quietly, my expression of astonishment not going unnoticed. "But we know how to work with them and among them, and everything is under control." This week's events in the Russian North Caucasus proved the confident host wrong, big time. While the outburst of anti-Semitic hatred came against the backdrop of an external spark – the massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, and the war on terror declared by Israel as a result – no one can claim that the incendiary materials were not prepared for it.
The airport, photo: AFP
For those less familiar with what is happening in the Muslim south of Russia, the images of the pogrom at Makhachkala airport came as a great surprise. Over the course of an entire day, thousands of incited youths did whatever they wanted – shouting anti-Semitic slogans, entering sterile areas of the local airport unhindered, breaking through barricades, beating, and finally taking control of the planes parked there for a while.
Their goal was one: to find Jews and murder them. One of the most shocking peaks was recorded when the rioters "checked" anyone who crossed their path, to find out if they were Jewish. As befits the modern era, the videos documenting these horrific acts circulated in real time on social networks, and immediately afterwards in the traditional media as well. The whole world saw the disgrace and the danger.
Although several days have passed since that night, A., one of the passengers on the miserable flight that arrived from Ben Gurion Airport to Makhachkala, is certain that the danger has not passed. She talks to me from Moscow, about 2,000km from Dagestan, but the fear is evident in her voice, her careful choice of words and her unequivocal demand not to reveal her name.
The crowd in Makhachkala, Photo: AP
"Only now do I understand that the riots started even before our flight took off from Israel," explains A. "Someone spread strong rumors in Dagestan and the nearby regions of the North Caucasus that Jews were fleeing Israel, and as a result, masses of locals began searching for these 'Jewish refugees' in order to take revenge on them for the 'killing of Muslims in Gaza.'
"Our flight landed in Makhachkala just after 20 p.m. Almost all the passengers had no intention of reaching Dagestan, and there was certainly no one on the plane who wanted to find refuge from the war in Israel in Makhachkala. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian flights must bypass Ukrainian airspace, which prolongs the flight. Western sanctions prevent Russian airlines from using Boeing and Airbus planes, and Russian-made planes cannot fly long distances. That's why the situation was created in which those flying to Moscow or St. Petersburg are forced to land in Makhachkala and then move on."
Almost a death trap
A. and her fellow passengers never imagined that this trivial phrase – "moving on" – would become a dangerous experience, almost a death trap. According to her, there were about a dozen people on the plane who, like her, hold two citizenships, the Russian and the Israeli, and none of them, of course, expected what was to come.
"We were instructed to go towards passport control. We noticed that there were quite a lot of police officers around, and we were asked to wait a bit, claiming that there was some kind of commotion outside," A. recalls. "A moment later we saw a mob of young people breaking into the airport building. Security personnel and ushers did not try to stop them. One of the policemen showed resourcefulness and suggested that we quickly return to the bus that brought us from the ramp to the building. We started running between the planes and the bus, and the crowd chased us. They threw stones at the bus, I think someone was injured by shattering glass. The children among us were crying and screaming with fear."
Security guards at the airport,
A few minutes later, another crowd coming to the runways from another direction managed to brake the bus. A. is convinced that she and the other passengers on the flight were saved only because at this stage, the rioters could not know where their flight came from. "We all spoke Russian, and we answered their questions that we were not Jewish," she recalls of the moments of terror.
"Fortunately it was enough, and they kept running amok around the airport looking for a victim. Just then, several policemen arrived on the bus and led it to the far end of the field, where there was a helicopter. There we waited longer, trembling with fear and the sound of gunfire, because the rampage at the airport went on in full force. Finally, the helicopter took off right out of the rioting crowd, bringing us to some kind of military facility. Only the next day was it possible for us to continue to Moscow."
The spectacle of the pogrom at Makhachkala airport was broadcast on a variety of media channels, and its coverage caught a lot of attention, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. The wave of anti-Semitism swept not only Dagestan. Earlier in the day, a Jewish center built in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria region of the country, was set on fire and its walls were painted with the slogans "Death to the Jews."
On the Saturday preceding the events, at the airport in Khseviurt, another Dagestan city, an equally terrible sight was recorded. A lot of local residents went from hotel to hotel in search of Jews who were rumored to have fled Israel. The hotel workers swore that there were no Jews there, and suggested that the representatives of the crowd scan the rooms, but in at least one case this was not enough. On the entrance to the Flamingo Hotel hung a sign saying "We do not allow foreigners who are citizens of Israel (Jews)," but the rioters were apparently not convinced and threw stones at him.
Governor of Dagestan, photo: from Wikipedia
A spontaneous anti-Semitic demonstration took place in Cherkessk, the capital of the Karachay-Circassia region, also a predominantly Muslim region of Russia. Some 500 people gathered in the main square in front of the local government building, demanding that Israelis not be allowed to enter the area, and that all Jews living there be expelled. The response of the administration representative, who descended on the protesters, was equally outrageous. He did not reject their demand, and only asked that they act to implement it "legally."
The violent mob at Makhachkala's airport was dispersed after many hours of rampage, when special police units from other provinces arrived in the city. The anti-Semitic demonstrations were not dispersed at all, even though they took place without permits – in a country where even a single demonstration is immediately stopped with a heavy hand, if it is held under slogans against the war in Ukraine, or under some other anti-government slogan.
The Day After
The day after the pogrom, the arrests of those who participated in it began. After President Putin's public condemnation, officials at all levels competed to voice the many years in prison awaiting the rioters. Alongside the condemnation, the governor of Dagestan did not forget to point out that the rioters could erase the disgrace and avoid punishment if they volunteered to serve in the battles in Ukraine. This is the face of contemporary Russia – there is nothing that will not be forgiven if the criminal agrees to be sent to the really important front.
And if that wasn't enough, the authorities were quick to blame "outside elements" for what happened in Russia. In case you were wondering, and astonishingly, they are referring not to Islamist elements or Hamas (whose pages in Russian on social networks seem to have originated from Der Stürmer), but to ... Ukraine and the United States.
"This is the first time in my life that I'm afraid," M., one of the wealthiest Jews in the North Caucasus, admits to me. He, too, conditioned the publication of the conversation with him on complete anonymity. M. is not used to being afraid. His fortune and senior position in his city have strengthened over the years, thanks to his good relations with the authorities. Even the Roaring '90s, a time when organized crime gangs terrorized all businessmen, overlooked him, and some would say that even the mobsters preferred not to mess with him, and not by chance. But in his eyes, the threats of the past few days are something new, far more dangerous than anything he has ever known.
Putin. Will the damage be repaired?, Photo: Reuters
"I remember how after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when we faced the challenge of reviving Jewish life in the new Russia, the Muslims supported it," he says wistfully. "Not that everything was idyllic, but there were even Muslims who brought me donations for the renovation of the synagogue, or for other religious-cultural activities. Anti-Semitism was based on the remnants of Soviet propaganda, on those views imposed from above that presented Israel as a bloodthirsty capitalist state that abused Arab peoples striving for progress and socialism. Towards the end of the Soviet Union, few insisted on believing in this nonsense, and for the next 20 years, being a Jew here was actually honorable."
G., a Jew from Dagestan who moved with his wife to Moscow in recent days, also shares the diagnosis that the situation could escalate at any moment. He fled his home after noticing that the rioters in Makhachkala were not dressed in Salafist clothes (the kind worn at the counterterrorism conference five years ago), but looked to him like ordinary people.
G. has another reason to be afraid. His daughter serves in the IDF, and he is torn between concern for her, which has naturally intensified since the outbreak of the war, and the fear that her status as an Israeli soldier will become known in his non-Jewish environment. Fear exists even in Moscow, he adds with a sigh. The Russian capital has attracted millions of Muslims over the past 30 years, including Dagestani and Chechens. He has no sources of income in Moscow, but relatives promised to help, and in the meantime housed him in their apartment.
"In the near term, the authorities will signal that the physical harm to Jews undermines the stability of the country, and that it cannot be accepted," G. predicts. "We may even target the anti-Israel tone on television. But if it shows the cordial welcome that the Hamas delegation receives in the Russian Foreign Ministry, how can a Muslim, my neighbor in Dagestan, be expected not to imitate Hamas' modus operandi towards us?"
The Riddle of Dagestan Questions & Answers
What has changed in the last decade?
According to M., it all began with the Islamist infiltration. The entire North Caucasus was filled with mosques, religious schools, and informal projects, all of which revolved around preaching radical Islam. This effort was not necessarily directed against Israel and the Jews, but rather sought to raise a generation of students loyal to religious fundamentalism.
The explosion came in 2014, when the Islamic State was established in Syria and Iraq. ISIS has attracted thousands of people from the North Caucasus, especially from Dagestan. They were known for their particular zeal and barbarism that exceeded even the standards accepted by ISIS fanatics. And if thousands dared to go to Iraq and Syria to fight and die, one can only imagine how many tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands share their views, but are simply not willing to take risks.
Map of the Dagestan Region,
What does the change mean?
This trend endangers, first and foremost, the central government in Moscow.
So why hasn't the central government taken all forceful measures to suppress radicalization?
The Jewish businessman explains that Moscow has chosen to confront only the most extreme manifestations of Islamic fundamentalism. "She saw the exodus from Dagestan to the ranks of ISIS and breathed a sigh of relief when she got rid of the more dangerous elements, instead of realizing that the same areas would grow more and more wild crops.
"In my opinion, the regime was simply afraid to confront, especially after the traumas of two wars against separatists in Chechnya," M. adds. "The aggressiveness is convenient in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in the face of intelligent people who do not respond to the police by force. The population of the Caucasus is a completely different story. Here, power speaks, and it is not only in the hands of the police. Moreover, do you think local police officers will use this force against members of their own clans?
"To this must be added the complex structure of the region ethnically. In Dagestan alone, in a region of just over 3 million people, there are dozens of ethnic groups. In order to govern here, one must constantly walk between the drops, maintain the delicate balance between the groups and the clans, and any imprudent move is liable to create an angry group on the authorities. Rage in the Caucasus means violence. Russia's central government has chosen to accept many negative trends that have emerged here in exchange for industrial quiet. But it's an imaginary silence, and lo and behold, it's been violated."
Why has rage taken on an anti-Semitic form?
M. lists three reasons: First, the Islamist brainwashing included anti-Semitic propaganda, the scope of which only grew over time. In place of the stereotypes of the Soviet era came new stereotypes, similar in nature and more effective in their packaging. Israel and the Jews were portrayed not only as occupiers and bloodthirsty, but as enemies of Islam. Such messages are freely disseminated on the Internet, and if the authorities try to prevent Islamist and anti-Russian propaganda, anti-Semitic propaganda does not seem to bother them.
Secondly, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the atmosphere in Russia in all its parts has become extremely violent and xenophobic. Many people from the North Caucasus are drafted into the war, and excel in it in their cruel deeds. Violence has become more legitimate.
Finally, there is a third component: the anti-Israeli discourse coming from above, from semi-government spokesmen and state media. The blood of Israel has been allowed – talk show hosts and their guests, all carefully selected and approved by the authorities, speak out against Israel with an intensity not seen here since the days of the Cold War.
Photos of Gazan children being crushed under rubble are displayed wholesale, as if they alone reflect what is happening. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, one of Russia's most important figures, says openly that Israel resembles the Nazis, and no one from the Kremlin is calling on him to order.
What does the average viewer conclude that his brain is washed with a thousand hours of such broadcasting? M.'s conclusion is that if the regime marks Israel as an enemy, then it also considers harm to Jews tolerable. Now the Kremlin will try to repair the damage, but how do you put back the genie that escaped from it?
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