John McCain's campaign is seizing on a Hamas adviser's recent "endorsement" of Barack Obama,  trying to suggest that the Democratic front-runner brought the unsavory praise on himself.

In a fund-raising letter sent out Friday, the McCain campaign excerpted the words of Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef, who in an interview Sunday with WABC radio and WorldNetDaily said the terrorist group supports Obama's foreign policy vision.

"Barack Obama's foreign policy plans have even won him praise from Hamas leaders," the McCain letter says. "We need change in America, but not the kind of change that wins kind words from Hamas, surrenders in Iraq and will hold unconditional talks with Iranian President Ahmadinejad."

Yousef said in the interview: "We don't mind -- actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will [win] the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance."

The McCain fund-raising letter also said Obama has "refused to condemn" former President Jimmy Carter for holding talks with Hamas leaders.

Obama, while not condemning Carter, has criticized the ex-president's decision to meet with Hamas. On Wednesday night he told a group of Jewish leaders that "Hamas is not a state; Hamas is a terrorist organization."

"We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel's destruction," Obama said. "We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by past agreements."

FOX News' Carl Cameron contributed to this report.