Early on Sunday morning, whispers of a peculiar inbound flight from Tel Aviv flowed through a bustling public channel on Telegram. It was channel known as Morning Dagestan, a focal point of the southerly Russian region’s digital gossip. A cryptic rallying cry echoed from the screen, inciting followers to greet these unexpected guests at Makhachkala, the region’s primary air hub, upon their arrival at 19:00 local time.
As the allocated hour drew nearer, hordes of young men gradually enclosed the airport, outpacing the security personnel on duty. In their exuberance, they managed to infiltrate the airfield; some even scaled the towering terminal to perch audaciously on the roof. It soon became clear their anticipation was centered around a single group: arriving Jewish passengers.
A flurry of recorded footage confirms the intensity of the scene, with Palestinian ensigns being brandished and antisemitic rhetoric resounding amidst the chaos. Russian law enforcement, taken aback by the scale of the rebellion, took multiple hours to evacuate the rebellious crowd. Industry sources quote approximately 60 dissidents accosted and detained.
However, the question remains: how did the rioters achieve such a meticulously orchestrated upheaval? Through scrutinizing the messages from the Morning Dagestan channel, a clear narrative emerges. Further investigation also uncovered antisemitic incitement and calls for violence in several other local Telegram chats.
Morning Dagestan is a vehemently anti-Russian, Islamist outlet that urges the cessation of what it dubs ‘Moscow’s occupation regime’ in the Caucasus. Beyond relaying local updates, the channel disseminates a wide range of biased perspectives, from Russia’s geopolitical strategies to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite the channel broadly supporting a group labeled as terrorists by multiple nations, it experiences no overt restrictions in Russia.
This once obscure portal, boasting 50,000 subscribers only days ago, has grown to over 65,000 followers. Detailed instructions streamed through it on Sunday for the eager rioters at the airport, including insights on how to block the exit as the Israeli passengers disembarked. One particularly incendiary message read, “Allow them to exit one by one, curse the state of Israel, and then move on! If they refuse to curse Israel, we’ll block the airport and won’t let them leave!” The channel even urged its followers to document passengers and their vehicle license plates, implying further harassment beyond the confines of the airport.
In recent days, the channel has instigated multiple campaigns, setting its sights on the local Jewish populace of Dagestan and fresh Israeli settlers. Violence and antisemitic animosity are pervasive in its rhetoric. Other Telegram channels, with substantial follower counts, were also found to be broadcasting similar messages, some without previously having political affiliations.
However, it was finally announced on Monday evening by Pavel Durov, Telegram’s proprietor, that “channels inciting violence will be blocked,” sharing a screenshot of a Morning Dagestan post. The channel was subsequently taken offline.
Assertions have been made which connect Morning Dagestan to Ilya Ponomarev, a onetime Russian MP who defected to Ukraine in 2016. Although Ponomarev has previously coordinated social media calls to upend Vladimir Putin’s regime, he denounces any current affiliation with Morning Dagestan. Despite his denial, statements from Dagestan’s governor Sergey Melikov and Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggest a reciprocal relationship between Ponomarev and Morning Dagestan, an association the channel itself refutes.
In light of the airport disturbance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky conveyed unequivocal condemnation. As the spat between Zelensky and Putin intensified over their respective views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, underlying tensions seethed. While Russia recently facilitated dialogue with Hamas in Moscow, it has drawn censure from Israel.
Dagestan, Russia’s most ethnically diverse region, is host to an array of indigenous ethnic and religious groups. It’s home to a significant, venerable Jewish community that coexists amid a predominantly Muslim populace. Regional sociologist Rasul Abdulkhalikov attributes the recent surge in antisemitic-fueled violence to local authorities’ restriction of pro-Palestinian gatherings, a move which has fuelled resentment among Dagestan’s youth. He lays blame squarely upon Dagestan’s administration, specifically Governor Sergey Melikov, for igniting this wildfire of sentiment.
In the pundit’s view, the surge of malevolent content on online platforms simply reinforced pre-existing biases among certain factions within Dagestan. Asinformation confirming their beliefs began to circulate, so did the spread of their unyielding attitudes.
