Is Russia pulling the plug on Hamas?
Ariel Bolstein - Israel Hayom
Hamas has been classified as a terrorist organization and outlawed in many countries, from Western nations to Egypt. Other than Hamas' two biggest patrons, Turkey and Qatar, only Russia still insisted viewing it as "a representative of the Palestinian people" and granting it a large measure of legitimacy. But now there's a good chance that the Russian door, too, will be closed to the terrorists from Gaza.

A group of Russian citizens who are active in Jewish groups there has petitioned Russia's general prosecutor, demanding that Hamas be recognized as a terrorist organization. For the first time, the demand was coming from within Russian society and supported by its constitution and local legal rulings. Geopolitical changes have created a unique window of opportunity for Russia to change its traditional position. If in the past Russia's objection to outlawing Hamas was based on the group not taking action against Russian citizens or the country's interests, that justification is no longer valid.

Moreover, Hamas and Russia now find themselves on opposite sides in at least three conflicts. In Syria, Hamas is in the camp that opposes the regime of President Bashar Assad -- the same opposition that Russia is battling. In Egypt, as part of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas is being hounded by the regime of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and Russia is one of el-Sissi's biggest supporters. In Turkey, Hamas is considered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's baby, whereas Russia -- after one of its jet fighters was shot down by the Turkish air force -- is ready to do almost anything to hurt the Turkish president.

We should also remember that this wasn't the first Russian plane shot down in the Middle East in recent months. The Russian passenger plane that was blown up over Sinai carrying 224 people was the biggest air disaster in Russian history. Although that lethal act was apparently perpetrated by Wilayat Sinai, the "Sinai division of Islamic State," that group's links to Hamas are well-known to anyone familiar with the region. Israeli security officials have said more than once that they had solid proof of the deep ties between these terrorist entities, including evidence that wounded Islamic State people were treated in Gaza hospitals; Hamas providing Islamic State with financial aid out of its slim wallet; and bilateral weapons supply. We can assume that Russia's intelligence officials are aware of the alliance that Hamas has struck with the murderers of its citizens.

Truth be told, this isn't the first time Hamas has killed people who hold Russian passports. As the organization proudly announced in 2011, the 24th anniversary of its founding, it had (as of that time) committed 1,117 attacks in which 1,365 Israelis had been murdered. Many of the victims of these murderous attacks were immigrants who also held Russian citizenship. And if that weren't enough, we should remember that Hamas was founded as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and now holds a place of honor in that organization, whose other branches have operated and continue to operate against Russia in its own territory and have executed many terrorist attacks in the northern Caucasus region and in the big cities of the Russian Federation. Not by chance has the Muslim Brotherhood been declared a terrorist organization by the various Russian governments going back to 2003.

Despite the lofty declarations and miraculous discovery of values, the world's superpowers are mostly motivated by cold interest. Thus far, moral justifications haven't helped the attempts to convince Russia to outlaw Hamas. But a good look at reality reveals that Russia's own interests could lead it to take that important step.