Russia's president Vladimir Putin intends to invite leaders of the terrorist group Hamas to Moscow. Ha'aretz reports:
"Having maintained our contacts with the organization Hamas, we intend to invite their leaders to Moscow in the near future to search for solutions," Putin told a press conference in Madrid.
Putin's announcement directly contradicts a statement issued two weeks ago by the Quartet. That statement said: "There is a fundamental contradiction between armed group and militia activities and the building of a democratic state. A two-state solution to the conflict requires all participants in the democratic process to renounce violence and terror, accept Israel's right to exist, and disarm."
"We have never considered Hamas a terrorist organization," Putin said in Madrid. "Hamas came to power ... as a result of democratic, legitimate elections, and we must respect the choice of the Palestinian people."
I wonder how Putin's poodle, Chabad "chief rabbi of Russia" Berel Lazar, will spin this one.