Sayyed Nasrallah’s Full Speech During the “Unified Platform” Event Held Ahead of International Al-Quds Day

Translated by Staff

Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech during the "Unified Platform" event that was held two days before the International al-Quds Day.

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Master and Prophet, the Seal of Prophets, Abi al-Qassem Muhammad Bin Abdullah and his good and pure household and his good and chosen companions and all the prophets and messengers.

Peace and Allah's mercy and blessings be upon you all.

We meet again on International Quds Day on the last Friday of the blessed month of Ramadan, which Imam Khomeini dedicated to Al-Quds after the victory of the blessed Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. Today, we meet again on a unified podium, a unified podium for resistance movements and forces, to express our commitment, our belief in this cause, our adherence to this responsibility, and our insistence on fulfilling this divine, humanitarian, moral, and religious duty towards the most sacred and clearest cause on the face of the earth.

Of course, this year we call on everyone to attend and appropriately express their sincere, loyal, and courageous position. There are certain developments that underscore the extent of our responsibility. Some of these factors are positive, and others are negative. We can look at them from a positive point of view or the negative point of view. But both sets of factors impose on us a greater sense of responsibility towards the cause of Al-Quds, Palestine, and the people of Palestine.

The first of these factors is the uprising of Al-Quds in the past few weeks when its honorable people, especially its brave youth, rose up and headed to the streets. We saw how they faced the “Israeli” Zionist machine of oppression. We also saw scenes of glory of these young men and their greatness. The people of the West Bank also reacted to the uprising in Al-Quds. The Gaza Strip reacted militarily, albeit in a limited and thoughtful way to support Al-Quds to create new equations. This is a very important development for our hands.

The second thing is that the events, especially recent events, confirm the Palestinian people's devotion to their rights and their commitment to not surrendering these rights. This is important. What does their devotion to their rights, their steadfastness, and their resistance in various forms – popular uprisings and military action, including the recent heroic military operation in the West Bank – mean?

Some people in the Arab and Islamic world ask us, why are you more royal than the king? These Palestinians have abandoned their cause. These are lies. These are fabrications against the Palestinian people that some use to justify their failure, defeat, normalization, retreat, and failure to assume great responsibilities.

So, day after day, despite the blockade, adversity, difficulties, and threats, the Palestinian people affirm that they adhere to their rights and their cause, and this puts on the Islamic nation a greater responsibility to champion them and thwarts the logic of ‘do not be more royal than the king’ because the king is the Palestinian people. They will remain the king, God willing. The young Palestinian generations still carry this spirit, this blood, this faith, and this willingness to sacrifice. In any case, these generations are on the path of decisive victory, God willing.

Another factor is the fall of Trump and his pillars in the region, and with it the deal of the century. Among the factors that demand more responsibility is the stability of the axis of resistance and its overcoming of the most dangerous stage that targeted its presence and entity at the regional level. This is also a very important factor.

Today, behind the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause stands a serious, sincere, and real axis of resistance that did not exist in previous decades. We used to hear a lot of speeches in the Arab summits and the Arab League – all of which were empty words. Today, there is a real and serious axis of resistance that communicates, cooperates, and integrates. The recent developments will only enhance the channels of communication, integration, solidarity, cooperation, and coordination. This is also one of the important and promising factors that make us feel that Al-Quds is closer.

Other axes are experiencing collapse and confusion at a time when we are witnessing the stability and rigidity of the axis of resistance despite all the risks, difficulties, as well as military, and economic warfare, starvation, siege, forgery, incitement, lies, psychological warfare, perpetrated by hundreds of media outlets, satellite channels, and electronic armies.

Nevertheless, this axis comes out strong. On the other hand, the other axes that led these wars against the resistance countries, the peoples of the resistance, and the resistance forces in our region are falling apart.

God willing, on Quds Day we will elaborate more. The deep crises in the Zionist entity – the social, political, and moral crises – has clearly surfaced, and many Zionist experts are talking about their concerns over the survival of this entity in light of these deep crises.

These are positive factors. These positive factors increase the sense of responsibility.

One of the negative factors is the wave of normalization. When some Arab countries choose to normalize, this means that the rest of the Arabs, Muslims, and living forces in the nation must raise their voices. This means there is more responsibility on us. This negative factor is adding more responsibility. We should intensify our presence and express our position toward normalization – with our conviction that this normalization will not be able to protect this entity at all. It may give it some soul, some oxygen, some capabilities. But in any case, the countries that have recently normalized [ties with “Israel”], were never part of this battle for its survival or influenced the course of this battle and its fate.

There is another set of factors in addition to some new regional and international developments and breakthroughs – some white flags that have been raised here and there to admit, in some way, their defeat and failure. All these things make us feel closer than ever to Al-Quds.

Of course, the responsibility on Al-Quds Day is to provide all forms of support to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance. The axis of resistance must become more cohesive and coherent. It must be more prepared. Its strength must be more intense because the axis of resistance is the one that creates the future for this region.

A final word to the “Israelis”: I tell them that you know in your heart – whether in a religious or an ideological sense, through your books or prophecies, or what some of your experts and rabbis say. You know that this entity has no future and that it is in the process of disappearing. The remainder of its life is short, very short. Hence, in this battle you are wasting your efforts, your youth, and your blood in vain.

In any case, the common sense that must be directed to all occupiers and invaders is that they leave the land they occupied for its true inhabitants and return to where they came from. Otherwise, they will be sent back in any form – by force or without force. This land belongs to the Palestinian people. It belongs to the peoples of this region, regardless of their religious and ideological affiliations. This land is not for “Israel”, the colonizers, the occupiers, and the settlers, who come from all over the world.

We believe in this near future. We strongly believe in it, and this belief is not only based on ideological and intellectual foundations, but also on the facts and developments that take place, especially those that took place in recent decades and years, and what we are heading towards at a regional level.

In conclusion, I would also like to say a few words to salute the great spirit of the great martyr leader Hajj Qassem Soleimani, whose name, image, spirit, fingerprints, and strategic thought remain strongly present in all the squares and fields. We cannot forget his great martyrdom nor his great virtue. We will never forget his great presence alongside all the forces of resistance in our region.

Also, I must conclude with a salute to the Palestinian people, to the youth of Al-Quds, to all the sons of this oppressed, struggling, resisting, and patient people who are holding onto their rights. As I have always said on every occasion, as long as the Palestinian people adhere to these rights and continue their struggle, those who abandoned the Palestinian cause will not be able to liquidate it.

The presence of the Palestinian people today in the squares is the ultimate divine argument against every Arab, Muslim, and every free person in this world whose responsibility is to stand firmly, with all his capabilities and abilities, alongside this people.

On Al-Quds Day, despite the coronavirus, we call on you to express your position loudly and strongly in any form of expression that does not contradict the preventive measures.

Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.