Speech by Sayed Hashem Safi al-Din, Head of the Executive Office of Hezbollah, on May 17, 2021, at a rally in support of Gaza and Palestine, held in the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiyeh), four days before the ceasefire.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HxmCpJ4ZqE

Translation: resistancenews.org

An editorial note: The two Dailymotion videos on this translation were subtitled specifically for this speech and they were censored by Youtube. Some browsers autoplay these videos and some not. If it auto-plays and you do not want that, just click one time on the video itself, and click again when you want to play it.

Transcript:

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers & greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Abul Qassim Muhammad, and on his noble and purified family.

Peace be upon you all, as well as the God’s Mercy and Blessings.

God the Most High says in His Holy Book: “And slacken not in pursuit of the enemy: if ye are suffering hardships, they are suffering hardships too; but ye have Hope from God, while they have none. And God is full of knowledge and wisdom“. (Sura IV, verse 104).

Allow me, in this blessed gathering in support of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and Palestine, to begin by sending all my love, gratitude and esteem, as well as jihadist greetings, to the heroic fighters on the battlefield, ready to (liberate the fortress) of Al-Quds, holding their ground in the front line of the defense of the Muslim Community (Umma) in Gaza, and in all the Palestinians: “Peace be upon you, O heroes! Peace be upon you, O those who lead this (glorious) struggle and engrave (in history) a new victory on the path to the Liberation of Palestine and the holy city of Al-Quds!”

I also thank all the children of the noble Palestinian people, who stood up in defense of their dignity, of the honor of Al-Aqsa (mosque) and of the honor of every worthy Muslim in the world! Because the defense of Palestine and Al-Quds is the defense of the entire Muslim community! I thank all the Palestinian people, in Gaza, in Al-Quds, in the West Bank, in the territories (occupied by Israel) in 1948! I thank all the Arab and Muslim peoples who stood alongside the Palestinians, and still demonstrate today as one man in defense of Al-Quds and in support of this cause! I also thank the soul of our great leader, Hajj Qassem Soleimani, who, together with his brother-in-arms Hajj Imad Moghniyeh (cadre of Hezbollah assassinated in 2008), designed and completed the mentality of the (victorious) rockets & missiles equation on the battlefield, and collaborated with all the sincere children of Palestine, Lebanon and all the Resistance Axis to make rockets & missiles a (victorious) equation, building a new equation in defense of holy Al-Quds, in Gaza and throughout Palestine.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x81gmzp

See Al-Manar’s report on how Gaza is winning the war

My dear (brothers and sisters), I will say a few words. After showing our solidarity and presence alongside the Palestinian Resistance —and indeed our action (for Palestine) goes well beyond the expression of solidarity: O my brothers of the Palestinian Resistance, we and you are (engaged) in the same struggle, on the same front, for the same cause. Your fight is our fight, your martyrs are our martyrs, your cause is our cause, your priorities are our priorities, your rockets & missiles are our rockets & missiles, and with the grace of God, your victory and ours will be one, if God the Most High wills it.

What I want to say clearly is that firstly, the battle that is being fought today in the heart of Palestine is different from all previous battles, whether it is the ones that we ourselves (Hezbollah) fought in Lebanon against the Zionist enemy, or those led by our dear brothers of the Palestinian Resistance inside Palestine. Why? Because it is the battle of the defense of Al-Quds and its identity, the defense of Al-Quds and its dignity, the defense of Al-Quds and its history. For Al-Quds embodies the dignity of the Muslim community, the dignity of (cultural and religious) affiliation, the dignity of history. And this battle is distinguished from other battles in that it is the battle of the entire Muslim community. Therefore, there can be no question of being neutral there: either you are with Al-Quds or you are with the enemy. There is no place for political, opportunist, sectarian or other alibis, nor for states, nor for peoples, nor for societies.

Second, this battle for the defense of Al-Quds made all Palestine one, just like it unified the Arab-Muslim peoples, making it clear to us and everyone else that when the Muslim community comes together & unites for its just causes, and takes the path of Resistance and Justice, then it appears quite grandiose, as it is today, while our enemy seems small and contemptible, as it is the case today.

O my dear ones, during all the past decades, Israel, and alongside it the United States and the West, as well as a few weak (leaders) from our Muslim community, have worked tirelessly to divide us, to tear us apart, to foment crises and chaos in our societies and our countries, in order to strengthen their grip on Al-Quds and on Palestine, and erase all hope for the Palestinians; they strived in order to keep certain political, cultural and other layers gripped by disputes for throne, power or kingship, while they themselves (our enemies) advance their pawns in their evil plan to Judaize all of Palestine and end the cause of Al-Quds .

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The answer to these decades of spreading seditions and turf wars in our countries, our societies and our region, and especially the last 10 years (with the creation of ISIS), through which they have endeavored to lead a large part of our peoples to civil wars and seditions, the United States pouring money and support into this (takfiri) project, as well as some Arab countries unfortunately, which joined them out of interest; but today, the response to these last 10 years has come, the answer to all these decades during which our enemies have worked to divide our Muslim Community: this answer was to come to the aid of the Greatest Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family, and this help came from the Holy Al-Quds! Today the page of dislocations, divisions and seditions has ended, so that we all find ourselves on a new basis, and let’s open a new page whose title is “Al-Quds, Unity and Resistance”! This is one of the important consequences so far, as we are still in the midst of the battle, in the midst of the continuing armed confrontation.

That is why, by your side, O children of Al-Quds, O children of Palestine, O Mujahedin in Gaza, the West Bank and the (territories occupied in) 1948, with every child and woman killed in Gaza by the aggression of the oppressor, with all the crimes perpetrated by the enemy, what we say today from this place, the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiyeh), the Dahiyeh of nobility and Resistance, we yell “We are all the Resistance! Yes, yes to the Resistance! No and a thousand times no to seditions and dislocation (of our ranks), and a thousand times no to normalization (of relations with Israel)!”

See Nasrallah: the rapprochement of the Gulf countries with Israel is a salutary purge

Third, in this battle, it is now clear that Israel is (already) defeated. I will express myself more lightly. Israel is politically defeated to the point of (total) confusion and stalemate in its choices. It is defeated politically, it is defeated militarily, it is defeated at the popular and societal level, whether by the pressure of the missiles & rockets in its skies and above its head, or at the level of the (Palestinian) people’s uprising in the West Bank and the occupied territories in 1948 to the point where the earth trembles under (the whole Zionist entity). Israel is therefore under (unprecedented and unbearable) pressure from above and below. What will Netanyahu do?

And to that is added their hybris! Sometimes and even often, arrogance prompts people to make choices that flout even the most basic of common sense (and lead them to ruin). Today, “their hearts are divided” (Quran, s. 59, v. 14) and they speak nothing but nonsense. And I’m telling you right now: Israel is just repeating (what happened) in 2006, as if it had learned nothing (from its failures). In the past, Israel mocked the people of our region by saying that they did not read (and were just ignorant, illiterate people). I in turn tell you this: “O Netanyahu, O Kochavi (Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army), O (Israeli) military and political leaders, you do not read or understand anything, and even if you read the recommendations of the Winograd Commission (responsible for studying and remedying the causes of the Israeli failure in 2006), it appears that you have not understood them and that you have not implemented them. Israel is just repeating the same experience, the same stupidity. In 2006, Halutz said after 3 days “The battle is over! We have destroyed Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and crushed its military capacity!” After 3 days, he thought the war was over (possible reference to the first 3 days of intense bombardment of all pre-established targets, or to 3 days of a temporary ceasefire scrupulously respected by Hezbollah, to the point that Israel believed the Resistance had exhausted its rockets)! (Hezbollah’s) rockets continued to strike Israel, until the end, and Israel was defeated! The result of the war (of 2006) was a humiliating defeat (for Israel)!

See Nasrallah: ‘Israel is not a Jewish State and will be destroyed, the settlers will be expelled or decimated’

Today, after two or three days (of shelling), the Israeli enemy claimed they had struck 500 military targets in Gaza and liquidated the military infrastructure of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Resistance factions. But if it is true, where are the rockets coming from (as they continue to strike Israel in the hundreds every day)? If you destroyed the military infrastructure, then go inside Gaza! The Resistance promises you a massacre if you dare to enter Gaza!

Today, Netanyahu repeats Olmert’s experiment, and Kochavi repeats Halutz’s experiment (in 2006). That’s a good thing for us, it doesn’t bother us at all! This is a proof that for 15 years they have not understood anything, learned nothing! But in the face of this, in the face of Israel’s impotence, I guarantee you, O people of the Resistance in Lebanon, that in Palestine and throughout the Axis of Resistance, we have for our part innovative minds who plan, think, take the initiative, move forward, brimming with ever more capacity, courage and development! If we, in Lebanon, had a certain capacity in 2006, I assure you that today, our power is much greater still, at all levels: weapons, rockets & missiles, manpower, all our different capacities have been increased tenfold! In Lebanon, our power has increased exponentially! And in Gaza too, the Resistance’s capacities have increased enormously compared to 2014. They have been multiplied! How is it possible ? Through planning, knowledge, faith, more action and determination! We are facing an enemy who, despite his (almost infinite) military and destructive capabilities, is powerless! While on the other side, our Resistance in Gaza is capable of holding the enemy in check, and all our peoples in the region can count on it! This is the situation today and it will be (even worse for the enemy) tomorrow and every day in Gaza, throughout (occupied) Palestine, in Lebanon and throughout the Resistance Axis!

And I tell you O Zionists, the result of all this is that you are in a downward curve, a phase of (inevitable) decline, while we, the Resistance, are in an upward phase! And for us to finish (Israel), only one thing is needed: I will not give a deadline, but when the conditions are met for the Great War of Liberation, you will find all the peoples of our region, everywhere in the Middle East, from Yemen to Iran, passing by Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon, not to mention the others (forces and countries) who will join the ranks of the Axis of the Resistance in the near future, you will find us all together, (attacking you) at once, within a single Axis, united against this enemy to erase him from existence! It will undoubtedly happen, with the Grace of God the Most High!

Fourth, today Israel is in a dead end. Those who follow (Israeli) news and statements, Netanyahu’s (vain) threats, realize that they are being taken by the throat. What can they do today? All Netanyahu can do is resort to airpower and bomb residential buildings. Here, around us, all these buildings were destroyed (in 2006). Did this alter the Resistance’s resolve? In no case (quite the contrary)! The buildings have been rebuilt. And with the grace of God, whatever is destroyed in Gaza will be rebuilt. But what remains invincible is the defense of dignity and holy places! It cannot be destroyed, shaken or even touched, and on the contrary, each building destroyed only strengthens the Resistance’s determination and furthers the will of the combatants, who become all the more determined to continue on the way of jihad (for the Liberation)!

It is also part of the stupid acts of the Zionists. Can destroying houses constitute a victory, in the military sense? This is cowardice, abjection! Killing children, women and civilians is all they can do, and there is nothing more they can do. In the military sense, the battle has already been won (by the Resistance in Gaza). All Israel can do to this day is kill civilians. What is preventing or dissuading it from doing so? The so-called international community? The United States, the West, (diplomatic) contacts? Never! What dissuades and deters them are rockets & missiles, strength and endurance, perseverance (of the Resistance). This is our experience in Lebanon.

We are not determining what may come into play in the (deterrence) equation. It is the right and the business of the Palestinian Resistance, whose leaders have enough wisdom, courage, knowledge and will to fight and establish the terms of the equation of Al-Quds and the protection of Al-Quds. The Resistance and the Palestinian people have announced it from day one: this is not about ranting or throwing (empty) threats. The cause today is Al-Quds, its protection, the protection of its inhabitants, and the guarantee given to this protection. This is what the Palestinian people and the Palestinian People’s Resistance announced. They are the ones who determine how to establish this equation. But based on our experience, if there’s one thing we can say to Netanyahu —let him take it as an advice, a prediction, whatever he wants— it’s that he’d better hurry to recognize the results of the new equation imposed today by the Resistance and the missiles from Gaza. The longer he delays, the higher the price he will be forced to pay. This is what our experience teaches us, and if he hurries to recognize (the new situation), I see things going in a different direction.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x81gn2r

See Al-Manar’s report “Gaza inflicts huge economic losses on Israel, annihilating Tel Aviv’s dreams

Fifth and last point, O my dear ones, O worthy people of Palestine: know that the entire Muslim Community (Umma) is at your side. O young men of the West Bank, O young men and women of the territories of 1948, our hopes rest on you, and the future belongs to you. We are all with you, as you have seen over the past few days. We have lost a martyr of whom we are proud, the martyr Mohammad Tahan (killed) at the (Lebanese-Israeli) border. It is a point of pride for us, and a pledge of our solidarity and stance, of this unity of destiny and journey (between Palestine, Hezbollah and the entire Resistance Axis).

http://www.twitter.com/AlMayadeenNews/status/1393623573332381697

The voices of the people are rising in support for you. The Arab and Muslim peoples are with you. Do not be too saddened by some cowardly and treacherous (Arab leaders) who at no time in their lives have been with you, Al-Quds, or Palestine. Forget about those people. You, O young people of Palestine, you have the possibility of shaping this victory, and you are doing it and shaping this (radiant) future (of Liberation), and you will shape it. We will always be with you in the unity of the cause, the unity of the front and of the fight, this front whose ultimate goal is Al-Quds and Palestine, and which is the front of the entire Muslim community.

We are with you with all that God the Most High has given us in terms of strength and capacities (which we put entirely at your service). But we in Hezbollah, as we stand by your side today, we are (impatiently) waiting for the day when, as I just said, without announcing when it will happen because it would not be wise —even in the case we’d know, we wouldn’t say it— we (impatiently) look forward to that day when we will fight by your side, shoulder to shoulder, on all the battlefields of Palestine to eradicate this cancerous tumor. We have been promised that (this usurping entity) would be eradicated, making Israel disappear from existence. This day is approaching, it is approaching (fast) and it is inevitable.

See Nasrallah: ‘The Liberation of Palestine is near, we will soon pray at Al-Quds’

May the people of Gaza be patient and bear its martyrs and sacrifices, standing strong in the fight against enemies, in everything you sacrifice, for victory comes at a price, no matter how high it is. But this victory will be noble and grandiose, for our entire Muslim community and not just for Palestine! We will always cry out, every day, with Al-Quds and with Palestine, “O Quds, we are coming, we are coming, we are coming!”

Peace be upon you, as well as the Mercy of God.


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