Russia as mediator could change Israel, Hamas game rules

While Israel was busy with its fateful, charged election campaign, the heads of Hamas went to the Kremlin March 2 for a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This visit received almost no media coverage in Israel. Still, it is likely that even if the visit had taken place under normal, non-election circumstances, neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz would have censured Russian President Vladimir Putin for hosting the heads of an organization defined by Israel — as well as by the United States, the European Union and additional organizations — as a terror entity. We can only guess at how senior Israeli figures would have reacted if such a visit had taken place in a European, Asian or Latin American state. But when Putin opens the Kremlin gates to Hamas, Netanyahu chooses to remain silent.

The Hamas figures in Moscow included head of the Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh; his deputy, Saleh al-Arouri; and Moussa Abu Marzouk, another member of the political bureau. In a tweet, Abu Marzouk boasted about the official and fruitful talks underway and even included a picture of Haniyeh and himself presenting a modest gift to Lavrov — a painting of Al-Aqsa Mosque and a dove (the dove of peace?) hovering overhead.