Nasrallah: Greater Israel is finished

– First I will discuss the Israeli subject, second the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, its indictment, and its effect on the country.

On the Israeli subject: the struggle against them is central and all the ongoing developments and American and western projects revolve around the issue of Palestine and Israel’s presence. A number of ideas have ended for Israel, and today there is nothing named “the Greater Israel project,” thanks to the Resistance.

– Greater Israel is finished thanks to the victory of the Resistance in Lebanon in the 2006 July War, and the [Hamas victory in the] Gaza war afterward. Today Israel no longer frightens the Arabs and Muslims, nor can it impose its conditions. It can no longer decide war. We put an end to these projects in spite of international support for Israel. I am not saying that Israel has today become weak. We are realistic, and she still has some strength. However, she is no longer the Israel that plans and does whatever she wants. Currently, Israel is trying to rebuild its power and apparatuses and correct the conditions of its front. The Israeli inability to put out its fires domestically was obvious to everyone.

– Israel is trying various stratagems to prove its ability and the Jewish identity of the state. Today there is joint Israeli training with the Americans to treat some of the flaws exposed during the July War. They are seeking information about Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria. Today their spy devices were dismantled in Mount Barouk and Mount Sannine thanks to coordination between the army and the Resistance. The army should be thanked for dismantling their radars in Barouk.

– Today we can say that Israel is in a strategic predicament, due to the failure of the American project. There is a new environment and Israel faces the choice of compromise with the Palestinians and then the Syrians. Netanyahu and Lieberman’s government does not want this choice, so these negotiations will not reach any result in spite of the incentives offered to Israel in exchange for a three month settlement freeze that was refused. Israel basically refuses negotiations.

– The second choice Israel has is war in Lebanon or Gaza. Under current circumstances Israel is unable to start a war and will not open a war on any front unless the results are guaranteed. She cannot bear new defeats. I am not saying that the choice of war is impossible, but it is a dangerous choice for Israel.

– The third choice is for the situation to remain as it is – no war, and no compromise, awaiting international and regional changes that could help Israel. Today Israel prefers this third choice, benefiting from time to judaize Jerusalem and rebuild strength. But there is a problem with this third choice because it gives the enemies of Israel time to build their own strength. Barak is attempting the impossible [when he tries] to stop Hezbollah’s armament, and Iran is growing in strength, and Syria as well.

– The second problem facing Israel is that she is losing more regional allies. Thirty years ago they lost the Shah, and today they lost Turkey. Israel is worried about the future and there is a demand for Israel to move and confront those powers working day and night to confront her. They are seeking international sanctions against Iran and used the world to besiege the Resistance with UN Security Council Resolution 1559. They are continually working through regimes, funds, the media, persons, elite, and intelligence agencies to sow domestic strife. Israel’s only hope for escaping from this strategic predicament is this choice.

– Israel is seeking to sow strife between Iran and the Arabs, and among the Arab states, and within each Arab country. A few days ago Kadima party head Shaul Mofaz said that there is a danger called the “Shia epidemic” and that it threatens the Sunnis in the region. He called on them to ally with Israel and moderate Arabs, as he called them, to confront the Shia danger.

– Leaders have a responsibility to be aware and stand against this conspiracy. Anyone who serves this project by word or deed is serving Israel, whether Sunni or Shia. It is a duty of both the Sunni and Shia [to confront the conspiracy]. This also requires awareness and responsibility from the eastern Christians. They do not care about the Christians in Lebanon. They were laughing at some of them in Lebanon. America is only concerned with Israel. I say to the Christians in and out of Lebanon: if you think that a Sunni-Shia struggle in Lebanon would be in your interest, you are wrong, and godwilling this struggle will not happen and there will be no faulty hopes hung on it.

– Regarding the indictment for the case of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination, we place it in the context of this conspiracy. I want to assure you that the Resistance trains day and night and that you can bet on it in the future – do not worry.

– Since 2006 the investigation began to take this direction, and afterward in 2008 they told me that there is a group working for Israeli intelligence. We did not do anything – we are not looking for a pretext to change the political reality in Lebanon or create a problem or change Taif, as some are saying. We are not looking for a reason, although there are a thousand reasons.

– Yes in the last few months some came to me and said that the indictment was aimed at us and today the world is expecting it between 15 and 20 December. March 14 leaders know this but they are saying that they know nothing about the indictment’s content when we found out that the indictment would be issued against us.

– Hopefully there will come a day like WikiLeaks for this tribunal, and what is going on in the investigations will be revealed. There is more than what is in Wikileaks. I tell you that they know everything and are aware of what is going on, from the beginning, inside the investigation.

– A day will come in which the black thread will become clear from the white. Is it reasonable that we remain silent. We presented information and talked, and we did not undertake any negative act. We did not suspend the country, did not commit any civil or armed disobedience. We did not withdraw from the government, while we know that there is an indictment that will be issued in a few days – especially that there are those who invented some delay and said that [STL Prosecutor Daniel] Bellemare will present his report in a sealed envelope. Be assured, there are those in Lebanon who know the contents of this envelope. There are those in Lebanon who invented the idea that because Hezbollah is defending itself and saying that the tribunal is American-Israeli, it is suspect and did in fact carry out the operation. There are leaders in March 14 saying today that they are in fact convinced that Hezbollah carried out the assassination. If we were silent they would say we were silent because we were guilty. I did not say anything even to our allies in the Resistance, especially because the whole country is targeted through this matter, not just Hezbollah.

– We said that this investigation is not technical and is not precise – it is politicized. It was based on one hypothesis – in the beginning its name was Syria and afterward it was Hezbollah. They did not take any other hypothesis into consideration. No Israeli was accused, and this is a sign that the report is unprofessional. Second, the leaks in this wide way – especially leaks of this size – corrupt the investigation. This was not just in Bellemare’s tenure, but also when [former commissioner of the international investigation Detlev] Mehlis was in charge. He was a German intelligence officer and is a corrupt man, and I have evidence. He sold documents to certain people and those people gave me the documents. He is cheap and sold them for $50,000 or $70,000 dollars. he offered to give us all these investigations for a million dollars, but I refused. I do not know whether you will say that I made a mistake. This is an international investigation!

– All we did was present evidence and talk about false witnesses. I do not know why we are protecting false witnesses and why this issue is not being transferred to the Justice Council. Everyone remembers during the crime of the two Zaids that we accepted the crime’s transference to the Justice Council and we accepted it because there were people killed from two groups. The crime of the two Antonius brothers was sent to the Justice Council because each one was from a sect. I hope that all sides will ask themselves – will they accept this leaky investigation based on lying testimonies? I tell you that the STL is protecting false witnesses. There are those in Lebanon who made these false witnesses. Tonight the Lebanese government was protecting false witnesses and today they are protecting those who created them.

– We were told to surrender some of the brothers. But we are not those who accept oppression and surrender and betray trust and dignity. Come what may, we will not give anyone up or surrender. If we wanted to turn this into a coup against the state, we would not have waited for the Syrian-Saudi effort and accepted the situation. We are saying that we are under attack, and we went to address the issue.

– We did two things ever since we opened the file: we laid out a vision with our brothers in the opposition. No one expects that we go to abolish a resolution from the Security Council. There are those who said they want the abolition of the tribunal, and we said that this is not our opinion because we know that the Security Council bases its resolutions on strategies, and neither we nor others can abolish a security council resolution. However, yes this resolution could be suspended – there are many suspended resolutions in the security council.

– Imagine with us that the indictment is issued and CNN and the international media begin humming with news and this news spread. What do we do? One of the positives in what happened in the last three months is that we did our duty to the Arab public opinion and explained our point of view in the media. If the indictment is issued, it will not affect us at all. This indictment could cause a distancing or aversion from our Sunni allies, and perhaps a distancing from Hezbollah and a bet that the party will be isolated. But we finished with this foolish bet. We explained our opinion and made the picture clear. I want to thank those who raised their voices louder than ours. We did a service to Lebanon. In 2000 some did not recognize the service we did to Lebanon when we liberated the South.

– I say, come let us discuss things together in the cabinet regarding what has happened in the government. We are undertaking a review of the work of the international investigation and the tribunal.

– We laid out a national responsibility and said that there is a big problem in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, and Iran moved. We created a climate of Arab and regional responsibility and the country was not left to Bellemare.

– A number of goals have been frustrated. Today I make a proposal to you [March 14]. You say that you have no knowledge about this investigation and you do not know what is going on and that the matter is out of Lebanese hands. In that case, leave the problem between us and the tribunal. Why put yourselves in confrontation with the problem? Today I say that we do not want to judge anyone, but we want to know who stands behind the false witnesses and the truth of the matter. In this country no one judges anyone. We said during the July [2006] War that we do not want to judge anyone. Come let us a agree today that you will stand aside and let us confront the tribunal. Your protection of false witnesses leads to an internal problem and domestic tension. We are defending ourselves. Come let us find a way for official and popular Lebanon to escape from this situation. We are able to confront the situation and protect the country.

– We are still hanging our hopes on the Syrian-Saudi efforts, which are continuing. We must all work together with this effort to reach a solution. After the indictment is issued, we will not say anything. All we can say is that [we will cross that bridge when we come to it]. When the indictment is issued, we will say how it was built and how we will behave toward it. We will talk about how others are dealing with it and we will discuss the matter with our allies, especially because this indictment is an attack on the Resistance and is not an attack by one sect on another. We are not worried about the Resistance, but we are worried for the country.