Photo by: Associated Press
The Foreign Ministry issued an uncharacteristically sharp response on Wednesday to a Russian and Turkish call to include Hamas in the diplomatic process, drawing parallels between Hamas and Chechen terrorists and saying it was wrong to distinguish between “good” and “bad” terrorists.
The statement, released at the directive of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is currently in Tokyo, said Hamas was a terrorist organization that set as its goal the destruction of Israel.
“Hamas people are responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians, including those who came from the former Soviet Union, and also Russian citizens,” the statement said. “It is forbidden for enlightened countries to divide terrorists into good and bad ones on the basis of geography.”
It stressed that “a terrorist is a terrorist” and that Israel saw no difference whatsoever between the terrorism that Hamas deployed against Israel, and the terrorism that the Chechens used against Russia.
“There is no difference between Khaled Mashaal and Shamil Basayev [a Chechen leader who was killed in 2006],” it read.
“Israel always stood behind Russia in its fight against Chechen terrorism, and would have expected similar treatment regarding Hamas terrorism against Israel,”theForeign Ministry statement said.
What raised Israel’s ire was a comment Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made in Ankara on Wednesday, during a visit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying – in a clear reference to Hamas – that no one should be excluded from the Mideast peace process.
Medvedev met Mashaal in Damascus on Tuesday, following a meeting he held with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Although Russia is a member of the Middle East Quartet, which also includes the US, EU and UN, it has never accepted the Quartet principles that there should be no engagement with Hamas until it forswears terrorism, recognizes Israel and accepts previous agreements. Russia is one of three European countries that continue to maintain contact with Hamas, the others being Turkey and Norway.The statement, released at the directive of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is currently in Tokyo, said Hamas was a terrorist organization that set as its goal the destruction of Israel.
“Hamas people are responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians, including those who came from the former Soviet Union, and also Russian citizens,” the statement said. “It is forbidden for enlightened countries to divide terrorists into good and bad ones on the basis of geography.”
It stressed that “a terrorist is a terrorist” and that Israel saw no difference whatsoever between the terrorism that Hamas deployed against Israel, and the terrorism that the Chechens used against Russia.
“There is no difference between Khaled Mashaal and Shamil Basayev [a Chechen leader who was killed in 2006],” it read.
“Israel always stood behind Russia in its fight against Chechen terrorism, and would have expected similar treatment regarding Hamas terrorism against Israel,”theForeign Ministry statement said.
What raised Israel’s ire was a comment Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made in Ankara on Wednesday, during a visit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying – in a clear reference to Hamas – that no one should be excluded from the Mideast peace process.
Medvedev met Mashaal in Damascus on Tuesday, following a meeting he held with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
While this is not the first time the Russian leadership has met with Mashaal, this is the harshest response that Israel has ever released regarding the matter, and one diplomatic official said it reflected deep frustration in Jerusalem.
At the same time, the official said there was little concern that just because Russia and Turkey wanted to see engagement with Hamas, other Western countries would follow suit.
Note: The old theory that you are judged by the company you keep still holds today, dear Israel. Russia just came out of talks with the Syrian leaders; then, you have Syria (and Iran) stocking up the ole' weapons pile with Hizbollah; Iran stocks up the Hamas terrorists with weapons; so, connecting the dots, if I were Israel, I would look at this as just another day of nations butting in where they have no business, as they are not about "nation building" when some are communicating with the very enemies that are shooting rockets into my cities. This is war - not a time to be politically correct with those who believe appeasement will prevent the will of the terrorist organizations to murder my men, women and children.
Bee Sting
