True Colors Shine Through

The Russians are not our friends. I say it again:

On March 3, Hamas envoys will arrive in Moscow. Their Russian hosts have prepared a banquet fit for a sultan. Gifts will be abundant. Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has offered to provide Hamas with foreign aid. There may even be shipments of everything from guns to helicopters. Moscow's position undercuts the strategy of U.S., European, and Israeli officials who had hoped that isolation would encourage moderation.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remained composed in the face of Vladimir Putin's shocking invitation to the group. She merely demanded that Moscow "send a firm message," but privately the Bush Administration was irate. It was one thing for Hamas to receive invitations from international pariahs like Iran or Venezuela. And although Turkey's invitation was a disappointment, Prime Minister Erdogan's antics and acceptance of Islamist capital has long since made Ankara irrelevant to most U.S. or Middle Eastern policymakers. But Moscow was a member of the Quartet, and host of the 2006 G-8 Summit.

Israeli politicians were likewise caught off-guard. Hadn't Putin been the first Russian president ever to travel to Israel? In Tel Aviv last April he said, "[T]here is the will and desire on both sides to strengthen our friendship, trust and cooperation and to build a constructive partnership together." Hadn't trade relations between the two countries doubled under Putin's tenure? Hadn't senior delegations from both countries visited each other in the past several years, signing lucrative energy deals, swapping military technologies, and even sharing counter-terrorism intelligence? And hadn't attacks on Russia's theatres and schools created solidarity between two peoples plagued by Islamist terrorism? Many Israeli officials had come to trust Putin. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a friend of Putin's, told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that Russia's "intentions had changed."

Reacting to Moscow's overture, Israeli cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit reflected widespread feelings of betrayal, telling Ha'aretz that Putin had "stabbed Israel in the back."