Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah came out of hiding to call for the complete destruction of Israel with no opportunity for surrender.
Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah terror organization, emerged from hideout on Friday to deliver his first major speech in years, addressing a rally in his southern Beirut stronghold in support of the Palestinian war against Israel.
“Israel poses a danger on all people of this region…including Lebanon, and removing it is a Lebanese national interest,” Nasrallah told hundreds of supporters in his half-hour speech. Israel is “a cancerous growth” that must be wiped out, he said. “The only solution is to destroy it without giving it the opportunity to surrender.”
Nasrallah has been in hiding ever since Hezbollah fought a month-long Lebanon war against Israel in 2006, fearing assassination by Israel.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s enemies, including the United States, Israel and Britain, were trying to exploit political tensions in order to drive a wedge between the Shi’ites and the rest of the region. “We say to America, Israel, Great Britain and their regional tools, we say to every enemy and friend … we in Hezbollah will not abandon Palestine, the Palestinian people or the sacred sites in Palestine,” he declared. “Call us terrorists, criminals, try to kill us, we Shi’ites will never abandon Palestine.”
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Nasrallah was speaking on the occasion of al-Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, marked each year on the last Friday of the Muslim month of Ramadan in accordance with a tradition established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late ruler of Iran and a foe of Israel.
“Some might think that the elimination of Israel is a Palestinian interest,” Nasrallah said. “Yes, it is a Palestinian interest, but not just that. It is in the interest of the entire Islamic world, it is in the interest of the entire Arab world and it is also in the national interest of every country in the region.”
Nasrallah has threatened Israel in the past, saying that Hezbollah rockets can strike anywhere in Israel.
By: United with Israel Staff
(AP and Reuters contributed to this report.)