Nasrallah: Arabs have much to learn from Chavez

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, dubbed as the most popular leader in the Arab world, addressed a crowd of Lebanese supporters in a videoconference on January 07, 2008. The following is part of his speech.

The brutal truth, the truth of the brutality and hostility and racism of Israel should be an additional motive to continue our refusal to recognize the Zionist entity.

My dear brothers and sisters,

Cutting relations with Israel and halting any normalization of ties with Israel and describing the appropriate massacres it has committed in Gaza today is the easiest thing we can do as our duty.

This is the easiest thing that the leaders and the people of the region can do. Yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that he would expel the Israeli ambassador in Venezuela. He, of course, did this in order to show his support for the Palestinians. Venezuela is very close to America, it is a neighbor of America. This is Chavez. He did this because of his humanity, his sense of revolution and, in this way, he dealt a severe blow to those who are now hosting the ambassadors of Israel in their capitals and do not have enough courage to even think about telling them to leave.

Today, Arab leaders need to take lessons from this Latin American leader. They have to learn how to show support for the people of Palestine.

My dear brothers and sisters,

This criminal entity must be punished for the murders it is committing and should not be rewarded. This entity must not be given benefits after committing so many crimes in Gaza and after killing so many people, women and children.

I assure you that the people of our Ummah will punish this entity and will punish the leaders of this entity because of the crimes they have committed. These people, these leaders have always taken Israeli acts lightly. The people of this region cannot forgive Israel and the responsibility of Arab governments today is to stand side by side with the people and the resistance in Palestine and to refrain from playing a role of mediation between the Palestinians and the occupiers.

Arab leaders must help the resistance to achieve its aims, to stop the military campaign and to lift the siege and must not put pressure on the resistance to accept the humiliating Israeli conditions.

Yesterday, an Egyptian official said something interesting. He asked 'Does the Security Council need more than 650 martyrs and more than 2,500 wounded to make its decision and act in a responsible manner?' These are nice words to hear and I would like to ask this Egyptian official whether the Egyptian regime needs more than 650 martyrs and more than 2,500 people wounded before it permanently opens the Rafah border crossing to help the people of Gaza stand with perseverance and achieve victory? The same question that you ask from the Security Council, I am asking you. I am here talking to the Egyptian official.

What is required from Egypt is only to open the border crossing, not to declare war. I was told by some of my colleagues yesterday that a group of Egyptian lawyers, who are loyal to the Egyptian regime, have actually filed a lawsuit against me personally. They filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice because of my speech on the first night of the commemoration of Ashura when I called on the Egyptian leadership to open the Rafah border crossing and called on the Egyptian people and the Egyptian army to pressure the Egyptian regime to take a positive step. They considered what I said as unjust and as a call for a revolution and the toppling of the Egyptian regime.

It was only a call to open the Rafah border crossing but, anyway, I am proud of the call I made. I am proud that this lawsuit was filed against me, especially because it came from those who did not take any steps after all these Israeli massacres were committed in Lebanon and in Jabaliya and in Palestine and even when Zionists brought massacres against Egyptian soldiers, those heroic Egyptian soldiers.

Zionist Arab Whores

When a lawsuit is filed against me because a position I took and because I stood side by side with those oppressed and killed in Gaza, this is something that makes me proud. I am proud that these people filed a lawsuit against me because I took this position. I am proud of this now and I will be proud of this in the afterlife.

But I would like to tell you very frankly we are not trying to create hostilities. We are not enemies. We will not make hostile ties with those who collaborated against us, the Arabs who collaborated against us during the July 2006 war and with those who accused us and took part in the shedding of our blood. We will not be their enemies but we will be the enemies of those who collaborate against the people of Gaza.

I repeat, we will be enemies of those who collaborate against Gaza and against the people of Gaza and against the resistance of Gaza. We will be enemies of those who take part in shedding the blood of the people of Gaza and those who close the doors of life to the people of Gaza.

My dear brothers and sisters,

We also heard yesterday from John Bolton, a Zionist who was formerly in the American administration and is now frustrated. John Bolton pointed out the real aim of the Americans and the Zionists. The real aim, as he said, was to destroy the Palestinian cause. He spoke about separating the West Bank from Gaza. He spoke about ending the two-state proposal by keeping the state of Israel and giving part of the West Bank to Jordan and giving the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

I would like to tell you this is the real American-Zionist plan. All the talk we heard previously about two states is nothing. Such claims are mere lies and trickery because whenever they come down to actually determining the boundaries of a Palestinian state, they do not give the Palestinians any territories with which a country can be established. They then say we can not establish two states and so the solution is to abolish the Palestinian cause.

This requires, on the first level, once again a call for unity. Once again, we stress the importance of Palestinian unity in all its forms, all the Palestinian factions, Hamas, Fatah, the Islamic Jihad, all the Palestinian factions must stand unified because the cause has now become the target.

They are now making efforts to destroy this cause, but God willing it will not happen. They are not trying to destroy the government of Fatah, of Hamas and other factions. They are now trying to destroy the whole Palestinian cause and so this requires, once again, for us to stress on the necessity of supporting the resistance and perseverance in Gaza.

My dear brothers and sisters,

The experience of the July 2006 war and the experience of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip until now have provided clear indication that a proper defense strategy is necessary, whether it be in Palestine or Lebanon.

One of the strongest armies in the world, the Israeli army, which has the strongest air force in the region, is incapable of achieving its aims even though it stands against a very very small resistance force that lacks capabilities but has strong will and operates in a very very small geographic area.

This shows that the alternative of popular armed resistance based upon faith, determination and popular support is the best way to confront even the strongest armies in the world should such an army occupy the territories of a country. This increases our conviction and influences us on the path we are walking on.

Look my dear brothers and sisters, even the Security Council and the decisions it has made and even the international community have proved that they are incapable of protecting the Palestinian people in Gaza and incapable of condemning a massacre which was committed in a school that belongs to one of the committees of the United Nations…

How can the Security Council, which is incapable of condemning the massacres committed by the Zionists against women and children, protect people and how can it actually show itself to be just in relation to a specific cause.

My dear brothers and sisters,

What is happening today concerns us all. I know that in Lebanon the eyes of a region are on you. We are all in a sensitive stage in history. I tell you that we do not yet know the magnitude of the plan, the far-reaching effects of the Zionist-American plan and the magnitude of the collaboration. We must all be vigilant at all times as anything is possible. We must be cautious and watch the developments.

Yesterday, as well, Olmert was quoted that today there is war against Hamas and tomorrow there will be war against Hezbollah. I would like to tell Olmert, the person who failed in Lebanon, that you will not be able to destroy Hamas and you will not be able to destroy Hezbollah.

A few days ago and even a few weeks ago and even before the offensive into Gaza and after the military offensive into Gaza, during all this time, we have been hearing threats. One person says he wants to destroy us in days and the other person says he wants to destroy us in hours. I tell all these people that we cannot be weakened and we cannot be afraid and we cannot give up and we will not give up. We will not be afraid of your air force and threats. We will not be terrorized by your warplanes. We are here and we are ready for any development, event or any offensive that can be launched.

And I will not repeat what I said before. If you come to our territories, if you come to our villages, alleys and houses, I will respond with a simple sentence -- Zionists will discover that if they take the step they did in the July (2006) war, the next war will be a cakewalk compared to that war.

We are here and we will not give up our arms. Our resistance will still be the main theme of our sacrifices and the blood of our martyrs and I would have hoped for all those voices which were raised in Lebanon to actually give Israel a sigh of relief. Certain people had said Hezbollah would act against Israel. I would have preferred to hear those Lebanese people responding to the threats of Israel against Lebanon and against the resistance in Lebanon and against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Why is it that when the Zionists take any steps and display aggression, we do not hear any responses, but when some people speak about the chances of war, many intervene hastily and try to relieve Israel and convince Israel that Hezbollah will not take any steps. These voices, these responses are being heard at a time when Lebanon is being threatened and the people in Palestine are being killed.

My dear brothers and sisters,

On the tenth day of Muharram, in the light of all these challenges, we need the spirit, vision and wisdom of Hussein (PBUH). We also need Hussein and Allah to accept us. We need Hussein to keep our feet firm on the ground. We need to have the spirit of Hussein, his love for martyrdom.

As we said during previous decades, we were with Hussein always and we were ready to sacrifice ourselves and our souls just like our brothers sacrifices themselves.

We were always ready to endure the hardships of the death of ours sons and loved ones for the sake of the cause which we believe in, for the sake of defending dignified and honorable lives. The passage of these years have proved our firmness and that our direction is the right direction, that our alternative is the right alternative.

We once again pay tribute to Imam Hussein's sacrifices and say that the generations of men and women who everyday repeat the known slogan cannot be defeated and cannot be terrorized by any threats as long as their voices always call. We say we will answer to your request Imam Hussein.

Israel is our enemy and the enemy of the Ummah and will always be its enemy even if some reconcile with Israel. America created Israel and protects Israel and is therefore the enemy of the Ummah and will always be the enemy even if some reconcile with America.

I thank you once again for your faithful participation. We once again would like to raise our voices to the enemy and let the enemy know that the Ummah, and we will always be an Ummah, when asked whether “we will be humiliated or stand against them with dignity?” The answer will always be that our position is to never be humiliated.

Peace be upon the Imam Abu Abdullah Al-Hussein, son of the Prophet, peace be upon all those who gave themselves to your cause. Once again, I pay tribute and I shall always pay tribute to you and shed light on your memory. Peace be upon Imam Hussein and Ali, the son of Hussein and all the children and friends of Hussein. PressTV

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