President Mahmoud Abbas was among up to 30 world leaders on Saturday to attend a huge military parade in Moscow commemorating Russia's 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.As I recently pointed out, Abbas considers the infamous Mufti of Jerusalem, who was a partner with Hitler in planning the genocide of Jews, a hero.
Victory Day unites Russians from all walks of life irrespective of political sympathies and huge crowds were expected to flood into central Moscow.
But the Kremlin parade has been overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis, with the West laying sanctions on Moscow over Russia's seizure of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
In what has been seen as punishment for the Kremlin's meddling in Ukraine, Western countries have been boycotting the May 9 festivities, and United States President Barack Obama has snubbed the festivities, as have the leaders of Russia's other key WWII allies Britain and France.
The most high-profile guests on the podium next to Russian President Vladimir Putin were Chinese leader Xi Jinping, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, and India's President Pranab Mukherjee.
Other leaders in attendance included President Abbas, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, Raul Castro of Cuba, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Jacob Zuma of South Africa.
The irony of his celebrating the defeat of the Nazis when his political forebears were solidly pro-Nazi is lost on the world.