Anna Nemtsova
Published Nov. 01, 2023 4:49 AM EDT 

“We support Palestine. The West and Europe are pulling in forces to destroy Palestine and what are we doing? We’ll define who is right and who is wrong, where are you, Muslims?” Kadyrov wrote on social media. He regularly plays up his faith to demonstrate his authority in front of Russia’s 15-million strong Muslim community.

In Dagestan, locals believe the lack of Muslim leaders contributed to the weekend’s escalation. They believe more reactive officials would have diverted the flight from Tel Aviv once Telegram threats to raid the airport began to circulate. “We Muslims of Dagestan blame our authorities for appointing Russian officials to our republic. They have no sense of reality, they allow a plane from Israel to land here when our people stand with Palestine. The authorities are to blame for this, nobody else,” Magomed Shamilov, a retired police officer and human rights defender, based in Dagestan, told The Daily Beast.
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