The FSB Thwarted An Attempt To Exploit The Palestinian Cause To Sow Inter-Religious Discord

There’s nothing radical or extreme about standing in solidarity with the UNSC-endorsed cause of Palestinian independence, but some advocates have indisputably gone overboard after October 7^th into backing bonafide acts of terrorism committed on the false pretext of advancing this same cause.

The FSB revealed on Monday that it busted several terrorists who were plotting anti-Semitic terrorist attacks in three Russian regions. According to their press release, the Palestinian cause was exploited as the pretext for sowing inter-religious discord through these means, which they claim aimed to provoke riots like the one that took place in Dagestan’s Makhachkala Airport in fall 2023. They also allege that this was masterminded by unnamed foreign terrorist group. Here are some background briefings:

* 1 November 2023: “Rioting In Purported Support Of Palestine Discredits Its People’s Independence Cause”

* 16 December 2023: “Lavrov Made An Important Point About How Terrorists Are Exploiting The Palestinian Cause”

* 9 March 2024: “Russia Thwarted ISIS-K’s Plot To Trigger Inter-Religious Discord”

The precedent established through the first and third examples respectively suggest that Ukraine’s SBU and/or ISIS-K were behind these thwarted anti-Semitic terrorist plots. The trigger event for going through with them at this time is arguably Trump’s Russian-backed Gaza peace plan. It’ll amount to Hamas’ de facto capitulation if implemented in full, which hardline supporters of the Palestinian cause consider to be unjust, ergo why this was likely planned to be the pretext for the aforesaid attacks.

Many Russian Muslims passionately support the Palestinian people’s independence cause, including its extreme manifestation that Hamas champions with respect to destroying the State of Israel, which Russia and most of the world recognizes as a legitimate member of the international community. Some Russian regions like Dagestan are majority-Muslim and their people live in comparatively poorer conditions than their compatriots elsewhere, however, thus making them more easily manipulatable.

This context explains why so many of them in that part of the country were misled by fake news on social media in fall 2023 about the arrival of Jewish refugees from Israel into rioting at Makhachkala Airport. The partial success of these plans back then might have emboldened the SBU and/or ISIS-K, who were correspondingly responsible for that riot and later plotted attacks against Jewish sites in Moscow, into exploiting the earlier-cited trigger event for attempting to sow inter-religious discord in Russia yet again.

In terms of the bigger picture, Russia continues to gain ground in the special operation zone, and all prior efforts to destabilize it from within through information warfare and sanctions failed. As the West plots its next move, which might entail a major escalation that could even involve NATO’s direct intervention in the Ukrainian Conflict, there’s a logic to once more trying to destabilize it from within. This particular pretext is very cunning, however, given how emotive the Gaza War is for Russian Muslims as explained.

Not only is it emotive for them, but for many Muslims and even a large number of non-Muslims across the world, thus raising the chances that any terrorist attacks inside Russia that exploit the Palestinian cause as justification could manipulate some global opinion in favor of the culprits. If they misportray their motives as “a form of protest against Zionist-occupied Russia’s betrayal of the Palestinians”, then those Palestinian supporters who think that “Zionists occupy the world” might actually praise them.

There’s nothing radical or extreme about standing in solidarity with the UNSC-endorsed cause of Palestinian independence, but some advocates have indisputably gone overboard after October 7^th into backing bonafide acts of terrorism committed on the false pretext of advancing this same cause. These people are becoming a problem in every country and are expected to remain an enduring security threat even after the Gaza War ends despite their government’s efforts to deradicalize them.