Russia says it neutralized ISIS cell plotting attack on Moscow synagogue

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday it prevented an attack on a synagogue in Moscow that was plotted by an Islamic State cell, Russian state news agencies reported.

FSB said that the members of the organization had been planning "to commit a terrorist act against one of the Jewish religious institutions in Moscow," the RIA news agency quoted the report as saying.

"During further operational investigative activities, it was established that militants of an international terrorist organization are preparing an attack on synagogue parishioners using firearms,” the FSB noted. “During the arrest, the terrorists offered armed resistance to the Russian FSB officers and, as a result, were neutralized by return fire,” the CSO reported.

ISIS attacks on global Jewry

A teenager who had pledged allegiance to ISIS stabbed an Orthodox Jew in Switzerland on Saturday.

“You have seen what the Jews and crusaders have done to the Muslims in their homelands and also how they installed proxies from the apostates and [Shi’ites],” MEMRI quoted the terrorist as saying. “Take up knives that cut, gunshots that split, bombs that burn, and rammings with buses and trucks. Go after the Jews and Christians, and their allies from the Rafidites and apostates. They have no mercy on our brothers, like they have no mercy.

Attacks on Jews in Russia

In October, in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, Jewish travelers were forced into hiding as an antisemitic mob stormed the local airport.

Eyewitness videos from the airport depict demonstrators, primarily young men, waving Palestinian flags, destroying glass barriers, and echoing the chant “Allahu Akbar.” Some were seen attempting to overturn a patrol vehicle. Local authorities confirmed that 20 people were wounded before the situation could be contained.

Representatives speaking for the Jewish community in Dagestan said that the local synagogue had also been attacked and that the community was facing a massive increase of antisemitism.

Zvika Klein contributed to this report.