"25/03/2008 Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah renewed his pledge to avenge Israel's assassination of Islamic Resistance top commander martyr Imad Moghniyeh (Hajj Radwan) last month in Syria. Sayyed Nasrallah's words came during a commemoration ceremony Monday marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for the martyr. "The soul of our great martyr Imad Moghniyeh joins us together again and it shall never separate us. Forty days have past and what we saw was more determination by his brothers to follow his path and fulfill his goals," Sayyed Nasrallah said at the beginning of his speech.
BEST WISHES FOR MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS His eminence offered his best wishes to Muslims and Christians for the occasions of the birth of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) and Easter. "As Muslims and Christians, we need to learn more about the teachings of these two great Prophets (Mohammed and Jesus Christ) who represent the utmost Divine blessing on mankind. When we speak about them, we speak about faith and trust in God; we speak about hope, sacrifice, steadfastness and patience; we speak about serving people and going after the thieves of the temple and the idols of Kaaba; we speak about Divine leaders who if we listen to with our hearts and minds, we would be able to face all earthly challenges and the dangers of life; living would be different and life itself would be different," Sayyed Nasrallah said.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION...WHAT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION? The Hezbollah chief expressed deep regret and anger at what these two great Prophets are being subjected to. "Not long ago, some authors and artists in Europe offended Christ and his holy mother peace be upon her, under the pretext of freedom of expression. Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) has been coming under insults and offense under the same pretext. This is something that should be condemned by all religions and every free and honest man in this world. To believe or not to believe in the Prophet is an ideological issue, but to insult him and describe him in the most offensive way is another thing that does not agree with the freedom of expression or the freedom of opinion. Take Europe as an example, yesterday a senior official in a French ministry was punished and released from his job because he wrote an article saying that "Israeli soldiers open fire at Palestinian schoolgirls as they leave school." The man was describing a certain situation and mentioning a fact; but he was fired. What kind of freedom of expression is this? Is freedom of expression a means to insult and offend the Prophet of 1.4 billion Muslims? Why is it that when it comes to Israel all sanctities and freedom of expression fall apart. Why did the whole world shake when a great philosopher like Roger Garoudi discussed the holocaust from a scientific perspective and was later prosecuted?"
AN ISRAELI WAR IS NO LONGER A PICNIC Sayyed Nasrallah pledged that Israel is heading towards more defeats. "The Israelis would discover during any confrontation what a stupid act they committed by killing Moghniyeh," he vowed. His eminence added that a war by Israel would not be a picnic because 85% (according to a poll made recently) of the Lebanese support efforts to topple the Zionist Entity." "I want to remind you that an Israeli war is no longer a picnic. An Israeli war has become very costly because there is in Lebanon the strength, will and education of the resistance as well as the blood of the resistance's martyrs," the Hezbollah chief said. He added that it is "not a simple option for the United States to attack Iran or for Israel to attack Syria." "The Israelis don’t learn from their mistakes. Did they draw lessons from the July war when they set goals that can't possibly be fulfilled within days? Did they make use of this lesson in Gaza? They went into the besieged Strip and undertook their operation there. (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert set two goals for the Gaza operation: To stop rocket firing at Sderot, Ashkelon and nearby settlements and to topple the Hamas government. The bombing started, massacres were committed, children and women were killed and houses were destroyed; they believed that the people would revolt against the resistance. However none of the goals was fulfilled. The Israelis did not dare to conduct a ground assault in Gaza after the resistance inflicted heavy casualties within army ranks." Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and Hezbollah's victory in 2006 mean that a new Israeli war is no longer that simple. He also criticized those who have been projecting Israel as "the regional neighbor" with whom we should show tolerance. "Some weak-kneed won't admit that they are weak and do not have enough courage to confront and defend our people. Instead they seek to change this concept and distort it by saying that the resistance is an irrational choice. For them, when one man enters the temple with his rod to fight the thieves, it is a culture of death; whereas the culture of life is the culture that transforms the occupier, the killer and the enemy into a regional neighbor to whom we should show tolerance and with whom we should coexist."
YES AND A THOUSAND TIMES YES, ZIONIST ENTITY CAN END Sayyed Nasrallah said that "we have been fighting the battle of awareness with the zionists (awareness in our society and awareness in our enemy's society)." "First of all, the question that was raised in 1982 was: Can we really fight the Israelis? Can we resist? The argument back then was that fighting zionists is madness and unacceptable. However, resistance movements from 1982 through 2000 proved that an unarmed and abandoned people can fight and force the enemy to mark days of mourning on this and that event. Similarly, the zionists became aware that there are people who have the will, the resolve and the determination to take up arms and fight even if a dead end lies ahead. The second phase bore the question: Can you defeat the unbeatable army that vanquished Arab armies? Of course, the victories of the Israeli army and some of the defeats of the Arabs are mere "dramatic art" that paved the way for the media to aggrandize the Israeli army, soldier, tank and warplane to undermine our capabilities, culture, resolve and ability to confront. This is a battle that we won in 2000. It was a political and military victory termed 'the pull out of the occupation army from the south.' However there is an ideological victory in the battle of awareness: This army can be defeated and humiliated. In the aftermath of the 2000 withdrawal, the only remaining question was: Can this entity cease to exist? Well, before the year 2000 this was impossible. I can say that after 2006 this question was undoubtedly answered. In the July war, we were attacked by the Israeli army and the resistance withstood the great attack, breaking and shattering the army. We found and we saw the true picture of Israel and its leaders, generals, officers, soldiers and the Israeli tank... the nation that isn't facing bombings and banishment, lived in bomb shelters for 33 days. Could Israel be wiped out of existence? Yes, and a thousand times yes. In the wake of martyr Imad Moghniyeh's assassination I said that the end of Israel was a definite Divine rule.
YOUR GENERATION TO WITNESS ULTIMATE VICTORY
Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized that with the blessing of the blood of the martyrs "your generation will witness the ultimate decisive victory that would change the face of the region and to establish the real project to which our people belong to. As for the Israeli zionists, they are scared and anxious inside Palestine and across the world. Let them stay like this and drink from they same cup they used to make us drink from. Why would anyone volunteer to pacify them?
WE DECIDE TIME, PLACE AND WAY OF REVENGE Sayyed Nasrallah renewed his vow to retaliate for the death of martyr Moghniyeh. "The one who killed our commander must be punished. The killers must be punished, and they will be punished, God willing. We will choose the time, place and manner of punishment." The Hezbollah chief said that despite the assassination of martyr Moghniyeh, the UN-mediated negotiations with Israel for a prisoner swap were continuing. "Although the Israelis have killed the pillar of the resistance, we did not halt the negotiations on a prisoner exchange," he said, disclosing that meetings were recently held with UN mediators. "We will not stop the negotiations ... because we want to achieve one of the aspirations of martyr Imad Moghniyeh, that is, to see our prisoner brothers free among their parents and loved ones," Sayyed Nasrallah said.
WE WILL NOT LEAVE THE COUNTRY FOR THE AMERICANS His eminence also said that the opposition is determined to reach a political settlement to Lebanon's ongoing political crisis. He stressed that the period that will follow the upcoming Arab summit in Damascus will not be any different from the current period. "The opposition is keen on reaching a compromise irrespective of the summit," he said. Hezbollah's Secretary General also spoke of expected initiatives by the opposition, referring to recent remarks by his allies, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun. Berri on Sunday said he will call for a national dialogue session to discuss the formation of a national unity government and the drafting of a new electoral law if the Damascus summit fails to achieve a breakthrough. Aoun earlier said the opposition is preparing to launch a new initiative after the summit. Sayyed Nasrallah said the Lebanese national opposition "wants the best for Lebanon … We want partnership." He added that Hezbollah is in favor of unifying opposition ranks into a single entity. "We were approached by some suggestions regarding unifying opposition ranks into one entity. Hezbollah welcomes such a move," he said. Nasrallah accused "some Arabs and some in the West" of describing the opposition's demands as unacceptable. The Hezbollah leader said that the opposition will not give up and "leave the country for the Americans."
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