Prison sentences handed for anti-Semitic riot in Russia

An angry mob stormed an airport in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan last year

A Russian court has handed lenghty prison sentences to five men convicted of participating in the 2023 anti-Jewish riot in the Muslim-majority region of Dagestan.

The beginning of Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza has sparked a wave anti-Semitic incidents in the Muslim-majority republics of Russia’s Northern Caucasus, where local politicians and celebrities often speak out in solidarity with the Palestinians.

On October 29, a large mob chating anti-Semitic slogans broke through the security perimeter of the Makhachkala International Aiport and ran onto the tarmac. It was later determined that rioters had believed rumors on Telegram and social media that a plane arriving from Tel Aviv was carrying “Jewish refugees.”

The rioters clashed with security and police, as well as paralyzed the work of the airport and caused extensive damage to its infrastructure….