Russian chief rabbi to 'Post': Terrorists in Dagestan attack need to be destroyed
The radicals that attacked churches and synagogues in Derbent and Makhachkala sought to destroy the unity between Russians of different faiths, said Rabbi Berel Lazar.
The terrorists and fanatics involved in the attack on churches and a synagogue in the Republic of Dagestan on Sunday sought to disrupt the peace between Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Russians and had to be destroyed by the government, Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
Lazar said the attack, which saw 15 police officers, a priest, and several civilians killed at the hands of Islamic terrorists, wasn’t “so much against the Jews as it was against the government and the church, and the Jews were a part of that” objective.
The attackers shot at anyone who was walking in the streets of Derbent and Makhachkala, said the rabbi, and in the attack on the Derbent Church, Father Nikolai Kotelnikov was “slaughtered, they didn’t just murder him.”The Russian Orthodox Church had said in a statement that his throat had been slit. The police officers who had been killed also suffered indecencies, said the rabbi. A security guard outside the Makhachkala Synagogue was killed and the Derbent Synagogue had been set on fire.The identity of the terrorist organization was unknown to Lazar, but he did know that they were Islamic fanatics from the Muslim region of Dagestan, but not ones who lived in the attacked cities. He said the locals cursed them as less than animals.
Lazar offers condolences to Russian Christian community
“The local population are shocked. That’s not who they are,” said Lazar. “It’s people that don’t want us to live in peace.”
Lazar, who is also Commonwealth of Independent States Rabbinical Alliance chairman, offered his condolences and support to the Russian Christian community in the wake of the terrorist attack. Christians were suffering because of the loss of Kotelnikov and damage to churches in Derbent and Makhachkala. Jews were suffering because of the destruction of their holy site, said the rabbi, and Muslims were also suffering because radicals were misrepresenting them.“The interreligious friendship in Russia is very unique. The Russian Orthodox patriarch, grand mufti of Russia, and I meet often and work on projects together,” said Lazar.
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