Israel-Russia tensions after Hamas’ visit to Moscow

On Sunday, October 29, Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov was summoned to the Israeli Foreign Ministry in relation to the recent visit of a Hamas delegation to Moscow.

Ambassador Simona Halperin, the deputy director of the Eurasia Division at the Foreign Ministry, stressed that Israel views as severe the lack of unequivocal and unambiguous condemnation by Russia of Hamas and Russia’s conduct in international organisations, The Jerusalem Post wrote.

“Hosting the leaders of Hamas, who are directly responsible for the murderous terrorist attack on October 7, for the kidnapping of hostages, and the bloodshed of over 1,400 Israelis, conveys a message of legitimacy for terrorism against Israelis,” said the Foreign Ministry.

On October 26, a high-ranking Hamas delegation arrived in Moscow. A member of the Hamas political bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk, led it. It also included the so-called Minister of Health of the Gaza Strip, Bassem Naim.

Hamas representatives met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Qani in Moscow and praised Russia’s position on the war in Israel.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry condemned the decision of the Russian authorities to host the HAMAS delegation.

The Institute for the Study of War wrote that Russia invited the Hamas delegation to Moscow to use the war in Israel to distract further the attention of the United States and the West from Ukraine, where Russia continues its war.

The Kremlin is already exploiting and will likely continue to exploit the Israel-Hamas war to conduct information operations aimed at reducing US and EU support for and attention to Ukraine, the American analysts concluded.

On Saturday, October 14, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas welcomed the position of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russia’s “tireless efforts” in the context of the war with Israel. The Russian dictator called on Israel and Hamas to “minimise or reduce to zero” civilian casualties. So, the ties between the Kremlin and HAMAS become more and more visible.