Ukraine’s embassy in Israel slams Russia for meeting Hamas delegation
Ukraine’s embassy in Israel had harsh words for Russia after a senior Hamas delegation led by Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, visited Moscow and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss their ties.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (right) embraces Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Source: Khamenei’s Twitter account, posted May 24, 2021
The Hamas delegation held an extensive meeting with the special envoy of the Russian President to the Middle East and African countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, which included consultations that dealt with all issues of common interest.
The delegation expressed its appreciation for “the Russian position in support of the rights of our Palestinian people, their valued role in Palestinian internal affairs, and their keenness on the unity of our people.”
“Only a country that murders thousands of children, women, and men under the pretext that it is ‘liberating its citizens’ can host a leader of a terrorist organisation of the first rate. The world must not sit idly by and watch all this madness from the sidelines,” the Embassy stated in response.
It also posted a photo of Hamas and Russia’s flags merging, with the words “Surprised?!”
Israeli analyst Yoni Ben Menachem of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs (JCPA) explained that Hamas is taking advantage of the fact that it did not participate in the attack on Israel during Operation Breaking Dawn “in order to leverage its political activity and present itself as a pragmatic and ‘moderate’ organisation.”
Russia “needs every possible friend in the international arena, especially in view of the international coalition that the US managed to form against it following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Russia sees great importance in its relationship with Hamas. Hamas sees an opportunity to try and improve its international status,” he wrote.
