Video Shows Russian Mob Ambush Man They Think Is Jewish

A video shared on social media shows the moment an angry mob ambushed a man at the main airport in Russia's southern Dagestan region, reportedly mistaking him for an Israeli citizen.

On Sunday evening, hundreds of rioters stormed the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the mainly Muslim republic in the north Caucasus. They were brandishing Palestinian flags and reportedly hunting for Israeli passengers from a flight that had landed from Tel Aviv, Israel, earlier in the day.

One video showed a crowd of people at Makhachkala airport surrounding the man, reportedly checking his passport. The man said that he is Uzbek. The former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan is also a predominantly Muslim country.

The man was identified by Russian media as Dilshod Mamadaliev, an Uzbek by nationality, who works as a doctor in Moscow. Mamadaliev's LinkedIn profile says that he is a neurosurgeon.

Kavkaz.Realii website reported that an aggressive crowd ambushed him, mistaking him to be an Israeli citizen. He tried to tell them that he was not Jewish and not from Israel, before he was eventually led away from the crowd by police.

"I'm Uzbek! But I don't know Uzbek language. I was born in Smolensk," the man said.

One rioter asked him to "wait here until we make a decision."

Another member of the large mob appeared to be holding Mamadaliev's passport.

"Please, give me my passport back! I'm not running away from you!" he asked.

Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries of Russia and Ukraine for comment.

Other videos circulating on social media showed the angry rioters rushing onto the landing field at the airport, with some climbing onto the roof and wings of the aircraft, which belongs to Russian carrier Red Wings. Some held posters with the words, "Child killers have no place in Dagestan" and "We are against Jewish refugees," Baza reported.

About 20 people were injured during the unrest, officials said.

Police detained some 60 rioters at the airport, which has since been closed by authorities. By Monday morning, local police said "more than 150 active riot participants" had been identified. The Baza Telegram channel, which is linked to Russia's security services, said that about 1,500 people took part in the incident.

It isn't yet clear who organized the riots, but the Kremlin has said, without elaborating, that they are "largely the result of external interference."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with his top advisers on Monday at 7:00 p.m. local time to discuss "the West's attempts to use the events in the Middle East to split Russian society."

The incident comes amid an intense renewed conflict between Israeli forces and the Hamas militant group in Gaza. On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history, with Israel subsequently launching its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza in response. Over 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, the Associated Press reported. More than 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza have died, the AP said.

Sergei Melikov, the head of Dagestan, has called the riots an "attempt to destabilize the situation" in the republic, and said the unrest was supervised from abroad, including through "pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement on social media that the unrest is "part of Russia's widespread culture of hatred toward other nations."

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