Russia Welcomed Hamas Terrorists Days Before Muslim Lynch Mob Airport Attack

People in the crowd walk shouting antisemitic slogans at an airfield of the airport in Mak
AP Photo

The Russian Foreign Ministry welcomed a delegation representing the genocidal jihadist terror group Hamas on Thursday, three days before a Muslim mob stormed Dagestan’s Makhachkala airport looking for Jewish people to kill.

In addition to welcoming Hamas terrorists to Russia, the regime led by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has used its veto powers at the United Nations Security Council to prevent that body from responding productively to the massacre of 1,200 people – including babies, the disabled, and the elderly – in Israel by Hamas on October 7.

Russia has presented two widely rejected draft resolutions to the Security Council on the issue demanding Israel not take protective measures in response to the terrorist onslaught and refusing to condemn, or even name, Hamas for prompting the current wave of violence in the region with the October 7 “al-Aqsa flood.”

Chaos erupted at the airport in Makhachkala, the regional capital of Dagestan, on Sunday night as hundreds of people stormed the airport and rushed towards gates seeking passengers arriving from Israel. Participants in the mob scene shouted “Allah Akbar,” the jihadist rallying cry meaning “Allah is supreme,” and waved Palestinian flags. The attackers ran from plane to plane attempting to find Jews to kill, grabbing passengers’ passports and looking for evidence of Jewish identity. At least one flight had to be diverted away from the airport to protect passengers scheduled to arrive from Israel.

The mob also attacked a nearby airport, demanding employees identify Jewish hotel guests for them to attack.

The government of Israel condemned the lynch mob, demanding the Russian government “safeguard the well-being of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they are and to take strong action against the rioters and against the wild incitement being directed against Jews and Israelis.”

The Putin regime responded to the lynch mob by blaming Ukraine for antisemitism in Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the mob scene was “obviously” the result of alleged foreign interference in Russian affairs, and was made possible by Israel targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza to protect its citizens.

“It’s clear that considering the TV footage showing the horror of what is happening in the Gaza Strip – the deaths of … children, elderly men, medics, [and] others – it’s easy for malevolent actors to abuse the situation,” Peskov claimed, according to the Russian propaganda network RT, “escalate it, [and] agitate the people.”

The leader of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, claimed that a Telegram channel urging locals to kill Jews in the territory was an alleged Ukrainian intelligence operation.

“Today we have received absolutely reliable information that the Utro Dagestan (‘Dagestan Morning’) [Telegram] channel is administered and controlled from Ukrainian territory, by traitors,” Melikov alleged.

Lebanese Ambassador to Russia Chawki Bou Nassar (C) makes a statement during the meeting of Muslim and Arabic countries’ ambassadors at the Palestinian Embassy in Moscow on October 25, 2023. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Melikov added that his authorities would catch the “traitors” who participated in the mob and that “there will be no forgiveness for anyone.”

In reality, the Putin regime has maintained friendly ties to Hamas and opposed Israel’s right to self-defense since the October 7 attack. Putin himself maintains close ties to extremist Muslim leaders in the country, most prominently Chechen regional tyrant Ramzan Kadyrov, whose reaction to the Hamas terrorist attack was to suggest sending his own “peacekeeping” forces into Israel.

Moscow welcomed a Hamas delegation on Thursday, allegedly to discuss “the immediate release of foreign hostages in the Gaza Strip.” The Hamas terrorists held a meeting at the Foreign Ministry with deputy minister Mikhail Bogdanov. Bogdanov noted last week that, in addition to welcoming Hamas, the Putin regime was planning a visit soon by Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank, while Hamas controls Gaza.

Israel responded with disgust to the presence of Hamas terrorists in Russia last week.

“The hands of senior Hamas officials are stained with the blood of over 1,400 Israelis who were slaughtered, murdered, executed and burned, and they are responsible for the kidnapping of over 220 Israelis including babies, children, women and the elderly,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry noted, calling Hamas “worse than ISIS” and Russia’s warm welcome to its members “obscene.” (Note: the Israeli government has since revised the total number of those killed during the October 7 Hamas attack to around 1,200.)

Outside of supporting Hamas at home, Russia has almost singlehandedly prevented the U.N. Security Council from responding to the bloodshed caused by Hamas in the October 7 attack on Israel. Russia vetoed a draft resolution by the United States last week that would have condemned Hamas for the “taking and killing of hostages, murder, torture, rape, [and] sexual violence.” The mildly worded resolution did not specifically support Israel’s right to self-defense, but Russia claimed the statement was too biased in Israel’s favor, anyway. The Russian envoy to the Security Council added that it was “extremely deplorable” that the Security Council had not weighed in yet on the issue.

China, which also wields veto powers on the Security Council, also moved against the draft, although it received enough votes to pass had it not been vetoed.

Russia has presented two unpopular draft resolutions on the issue at the Security Council since October 7, demanding Israel not engage in any self-defense activities targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza, both failing to pass decisively.

Outside of Russia’s international efforts in favor of Hamas, in Muslim-majority Chechnya, leader Ramzan Kadyrov issued a statement saying he “fully supports” the mass murder of civilians in Israel and attempting to insert himself in the conflict.

People in the crowd walk shouting antisemitic slogans at an airfield of the airport in Makhachkala, Russia, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. Russian news agencies and social media say hundreds of people have stormed into the main airport in the Dagestan region and onto the landing field to protest the arrival of an airliner coming from Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP Photo)

“I’m once again urging all Muslims, all citizens, and our state to support the truth and put an end to this war. Or send us there on a peacekeeping mission. We will decide who’s right and who’s wrong. We will stop those who continue fighting,” Kadyrov said.

Kadyrov is a longtime close ally of Putin’s and vocal supporter of Putin’s efforts to colonize Ukraine.

Putin himself has emphasized support for jihadist causes and local Muslim populations in Russia. Shortly after the suspicious death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin appeared in Dagestan, taking selfies with local girls and receiving a “rock star” welcome, according to Russian state media. Putin used the occasion to condemn ongoing Quran burnings in Europe and the right to free speech and religious disagreement present in the West.

“Disrespecting the Quran is a crime in Russia, unlike in some other countries,” Putin proclaimed. “The Quran is sacred for Muslims, and should be sacred for others.”

At the height of the Islamic State “caliphate” terror wave in 2017, research found that Russia was the top non-Muslim majority country recruiting ISIS terrorists to join the war in Iraq and Syria. The ISIS apparatus in Iraq and Syria boasted in its leadership a Chechen leader, Omar al-Shishani, who was featured prominently in propaganda and recruitment videos.

Editor’s Note:  This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.  The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters. 

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.

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