text:
I betcha you that you did not know that! Now go and find out more.
Ok, this is hardly "new news". It's actually pretty old news already. But still, I decided to post this info here simply because I am under the strong feeling that the vast majority of people out there are simply not aware of these facts. So, here we go. Did you know that
I) That in 2006( three years ago!) the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) dropped the famous "pancake theory" about how the WTC buildings fell on 9/11? Here is a quote from their final report:
NIST's findings do not support the "pancake theory" of collapse, which is premised on a progressive failure of the floor systems in the WTC towers (the composite floor system—that connected the core columns and the perimeter columns—consisted of a grid of steel "trusses" integrated with a concrete slab; see diagram below). Instead, the NIST investigation showed conclusively that the failure of the inwardly bowed perimeter columns initiated collapse and that the occurrence of this inward bowing required the sagging floors to remain connected to the columns and pull the columns inwards. Thus, the floors did not fail progressively to cause a pancaking phenomenon. (source: NIST report FAQ) .
Nevermind the part about "the NIST investigation showed conclusively ...". My point is not to challenge their newest theory, but to point out that the initial "official" theory was quietly dropped and that nobody seems to be aware of that. Ask your friends and colleagues why and how the WTC buildings fell - and I betcha that you will get the "pancake theory".
II) That NIST also admitted that WTC7 fell in free-fall? Check out this video showing how NIST had to cave in to "truthers" and reluctantly admit that free fall did occur:
So, no pancaking and an officially free falling WTC7...
What to find out more?
Here is a partial list of sources I have found so far:
Videos: (watching these is the best first step)
9/11 Blueprint for Truth (2008 Edition)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4617650616903609314#
Fabled Enemies
9/11 Attack on the Pentagon
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7134448689829125037#
9/11 Press for Truth
Improbable Collapse : The Demolition of our Republic
The 55 articles of the Journal of 9/11 Studies: (second best step)
http://www.journalof911studies.com/
Professional Organizations: (specialized approaches)
http://www.ae911truth.org/
http://firefightersfor911truth.org/
Pilots for 9/11 Truth
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/
Journalists & Other Media Professionals for 9/11 Truth
http://mediafor911truth.org/
Lawyers for 9/11 Truth
http://l911t.com/
Journal of 9/11 Studies (Scientists)
Patriots Question 9/11
http://patriotsquestion911.com/
Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice
http://stj911.org/
Medical Professionals for 9/11 Truth
http://mp911truth.org/
Religious Leaders for 9/11 Truth
http://rl911truth.org/
Political Leaders for 9/11 Truth
http://www.pl911truth.com/
Veterans for 9/11 Truth
http://v911t.org/
Internet sites: (just a few of the hundreds out there)
http://911truth.org/
http://911research.wtc7.net/
http://911blogger.com/
http://911physicstruth.wetpaint.com/
http://forum.911movement.org/
I did also look at the various "debunker" sites but, frankly, their level of argumentation is so clearly dishonest (not to mention the constantly condescending and insulting tone of their arguments) that I pretty soon stopped bothering with them. Still, I will list one here which is particularly liked by debunkers:
http://www.debunking911.com/
Also - check out the "debunking" links offered here:
http://www.debunking911.com/links.htm
But, frankly, if you are interested in the "official' version you might as well read the NIST report itself.
If you can recommend any further resources, please list them in the comments section.
Many thanks in advance!
Labels: 911 Truth movement
The Sound and Fury of the Honduran Coup: Acoustic and Chemical Attacks on Brazilian Embassy
by Laura Carlsen for Americas Mexicoblog
* "Acoustic arms" employed by coup government against Brazilian Embassy and protesters
*Analysis of chemicals used in attack on Embassy
*Reports of radioactive cesium
*Offshore factory workers forced to make up days lost due to coup curfews
*Political ground shifted to demand for constitutional reforms
We have received many reports today of the use of sonic devices and chemical warfare in attacks on the Brazilian Embassy by the Honduran coup. The use of Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) has been confirmed by observers and journalists, who report that the devices are being installed throughout the area. Numerous photographers have also documented their use.
The UN Security Council today called upon the de facto government of Honduras to "cease harassing the Brazilian Embassy" and "condemned acts of intimidation." (See photo above: the caption on the first photo of the LRAD reads "State-of-the-art Israeli artifact used in repression and torture that causes damage to the ear and loss of equilibrium. What President Zelaya denounced from the Brazilian Embassy.") The second photo (below) shows the installation near the Embassy.
These devices are described as a "non-lethal weapon" produced by the U.S.-based American Technology Corporation. They emit painful sound at 151 db. with a range of 300 meters on land, and are used in situations of war and to control demonstrations.
While acoustics weapons have been used over the past several days, today the Armed Forces actually began to spray the Embassy with poisonous gases and by some accounts pump them into the building through the drainage system. The Honduran News Network reports that First Lady Xiomara Castro de Zelaya climbed a ladder to ascertain the source of the attacks and was sprayed with chemicals. She and others in the Embassy are reportedly bleeding profusely as a result of the effects of the chemicals.
Father Andres Tamayo described the situation to Radio Progreso, "Over a thousand soldiers in front (of the Embassy) left and returned with a cistern and helicopters spraying gases. There are also neighbors that lent their houses to spray these substances and house the military. They have placed pipes to spread the gases. We feel a tightness in our stomachs and throat, vomiting, dizziness and some people are urinating blood. There are more than a thousand people around here and at this moment all we can do is drink a little milk."
A press conference was called to reveal the results of the analysis of the gas, done by public health specialist Dr. Mauricio Castellanos.
Above normal concentrations of ammonia, which is used as a base of pepper gas
Concentration detected between 100 and 200 particles per thousand
Hydrocyanic acid, which produces a rapid reaction upon inhalation when it comes in contact with the iron in the blood producing vertigo, nausea, stomach pain, headaches and breathing difficulties
The report concluded, "This mixture is a purely military technology, prohibited under international treaties. Exposure for a prolonged period is lethal to any living organism."
Juan Almendares, a Honduran medical doctor and human rights leader, states:
"The occupants of the Brazilian Embassy that accompany President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, his wife and family, communities and protesters are the object of the launching of chemical arms from helicopters and airplanes or on the ground troops and the use of sophisticated sound and electromagnetic equipment that have produced severe diarrhea, vomiting, nasal hemorrhages and gastrointestinal problems in both the Embassy and surrounding areas."
"According to the clinical reports, this could be due to the usage of toxic substances including: pesticides, chemical components of gases, radioactive substances like radioactive cesium and toxic mushrooms."
"It is urgent that an international medical team from the United Nations and the World Health Organization be sent. We are facing an irregular war against the people of Honduras. The Armed Forces do not allow the International Red Cross entry into the Brazilian Embassy, violating all international health treaties and conventions and human rights."
Numerous reports, including Honduran News Network sources, also mentioned the use of radioactive cesium. If the use of radioactive cesium is confirmed, the consequences are very serious. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry finds that the effects of high levels include the symptoms listed above and even coma and death.
This is the notorious "day-after" effect of nuclear bombs. The agency adds that "it is reasonable to expect that individuals exposed to high levels of radiation from a source of radioactive cesium will develop the same types of cancer observed in survivors of the atomic bombs in Japan."
As described in the Sept. 22 blog, embassies are protected under the Vienna Convention and any violation of this is an international issue. With the notable exceptions of Colombia and the United States, all nations of the region expressed concern about the Honduran situation at the 64th UN General Assembly meeting.
As the society breaks down into a coup-provoked crisis, the Women's Collective CODEMUH writes that workers in offshore assembly plants have been forced to work overtime to make up for time lost due to the coup's curfews, in clear violation of labor law.
The Collective notes, "According to Article 23 of the Labor Code, 'Workers can participate in profits or benefits of the boss, but never assume the risks and losses,' meaning that business cannot charge workers for the losses caused by the national political crisis, which the businessmen and women are key actors in causing. Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot force workers to pay for the losses that you provoked with the coup d'etat."
"We call on transnational brands like Nike, GAP, Adidas, Hanes, HBI and Walmart, among others, as well as university students in the U.S. and consumers in general, who wear the products produced in the sweatshops of Honduras, to demand the offshore industry pay its workers for the days they did not show up for work due to the curfew of the de facto government, without requiring that they make up these days. And that the workers refuse to accept these extra days."
President Zelaya has called on "the resistance to maintain the fight that together, the people and the president will achieve the constitutional reforms and fall of the usurpers."
With the no-holds-barred repression unleashed by the coup regime and the increasing militancy and organization of the resistance—still adhering to principles of non-violence, to their credit—the political ground has once again shifted in Honduras. The terms of the San Jose Accords, hammered out by President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica and consistently rejected by the coup regime, have become clearly obsolete. The demand for a constitutional assembly has grown in breadth and volume throughout the country. The urgent tasks before the international community are to recognize that the crisis requires structural reforms and not patch-ups, to halt the human rights violations immediately, and to take all diplomatic steps toward the reinstatement of the constitutional government.
Labels: honduras, military coup
War on Iran still very much "on the table"
Information Clearing House is continuing to publish articles under the heading "Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran". Here are just some of the latest ones:
Obama Times Calling Out Iran For Impact
Keeping Iran Honest
Everything You Know About Iran Is A Myth
Obama warns Iran: Won't rule out military action
I completely agree with Tom - the attack on Iran is very much "on the table" and I wonder why he is one of the few still raising the alarm? Has everybody else really bought into the idea that Obama is about "change"?
If you are one of those who has been lured into believing that a war on Iran is now unlikely, that Obama is not "that kind of guy" - please remember who Obama's Chief of Staff is (Rahm Emanuel) and what kind of guy he is!
No - the big difference with the Dubya team is that the folks behind Obama will take their time building a consensus for an attack on Iran, and they will only strike once the political stage is set. But make no mistake - the strike on Iran will happen.
Labels: war on Iran preparations
Riyadh 'offers airspace' for Israel attack on Iran
Press TV reports:
Israeli fighter jets have been allowed to use Saudi airspace to launch go-it-alone air strikes on Iranian nuclear installations, says a recent report.
The issue ahs been discussed in a closed-door meeting in London, where British Intelligence Chief Sir John Scarlett his Israeli counterpart, Meir Dagan, and Saudi official have been present Daily Express.
According to the report Scarlett has been told that Saudi airspace would be at Israel's disposal should Tel Aviv decide to move forward with his military plans against Iran.
The British daily added the likelihood of an Israeli attack against Iran has increased significantly after the country announced plans to launch its second enrichment facility in the central city of Qom.
In line with its policy of nuclear transparency, Iran announced the construction of a second enrichment plant in a letter to the UN nuclear watchdog on September 21. The new plant is due to produce enriched uranium up to 5 percent.
The letter was sent 12 months before the agency's regulations oblige its members states to inform of new developments.
With eyes firmly fixed on Iran's nuclear progressions, the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to bomb the country's enrichment facilities out of existence.
Tel Aviv accuses Tehran of nuclear weapons development - a charge rejected by both Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog, which has so far made "21 unannounced inspections" of the country's nuclear facilities.
The UN nuclear watchdog in its previous reports has confirmed that Iran only enriches uranium-235 to a level of "less than 5 percent."
Uranium, which fuels a nuclear power plant, can be used for military purposes only if enriched to high levels of above 90 percent.
Details of the controversial Israeli plans to attack Iran emerged after John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, recently told a group of intelligence analysts that "Riyadh certainly approves" of Israel's use of Saudi airspace in the event of war with Iran.
Bolton, had previously said he had discussed the possibility with Saudi officials in closed-door meetings. "None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn't trumpet it as a big success."
The recent revelations follow a flurry of media reports in July, which suggested the Saudi government had approved the use of its airspace for an attack.
While Saudi officials deny having diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv, an Israeli defense source has confirmed that the Mossad spy agency maintained "working relations" with the kingdom.
According to a study published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a military exchange between Iran and Israel could result in the death of as many as 6 million people.
Labels: Saudi Arabia, war on Iran preparations
Hitman Says was Offered $25 Million to Kill Chavez
September 26th 2009, by Al Jazeera / Eva Golinger via Venezuela Analysis
During a recent news segment, Al Jazeera aired a video obtained from inside Colombia of an interview conducted by police investigators of incarcerated Colombian paramilitary assassin Geovanny Velasquéz Zambrano. During the interview, obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera, the Colombian paramilitary confirmed that a "wealthy Venezuelan politician" named Manuel Rosales, offered him $25 million to assassinate President Chávez by any means. The conversation with Rosales took place at a secret meeting in 1999 with several Colombian paramilitary leaders. Rosales said that he personally would be in charge of the plan to assassinate President Chávez, though the money would come from several sources. The Colombian paramilitary forces involved in the assassination attempt first went for training in Catamumbo, on the border with Venezuela. But in 2004, approximately 100 Colombian paramilitary forces were detained in a farm outside of Caracas belonging to an opposition leader, Robert Alonso, who has often called for the violent overthrow of the Chávez administration. The Colombians were detained and accused of a plot to assassinate the President. They were found with military uniforms, weapons and sufficient ammunition to cause serious damage in the country. Robert Alonso, a Cuban-Venezuelan and brother of the famous actress Maria Conchita Alonso, fled in exile to Miami, where he has remained ever since, continuing to plot violently against President Chávez.
On the video aired by Al Jazeera, the Colombian paramilitary confirms that currently there are around 2500 Colombian paramilitary forces inside Venezuela with the objective of assassinating President Chávez and destabilizing the country.
Although assassination attempts against President Chávez have been denounced on several occasions, the international press and Venezuelan opposition have largely ridiculed such claims. Nevertheless, the presence of Colombian paramilitary members inside Venezuela is largely well known. This new revelation, from the mouth of one of the participants, confirms what Venezuela has been denouncing for some time: Colombia has been infiltrating paramilitary forces into the country to destabilize, from the inside, and assassinate the President, when and where possible. This information also confirms that Manuel Rosales did not flee Venezuela and request political asylum in Peru because he was facing corruption charges, but rather because he feared the truth would come out one day about his participation in a plot to assassinate the President. With this information, the Venezuelan government has the right to request Rosales' extradition from Peru, since political asylum cannot be granted to criminals.
See the original Al Jazeera segment here:
Labels: assassination, Colombia, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela
How Does the World Protect Itself from Israel and the Scourge of Zionism?
by Roger Tucker
There are many people, "progressive" Zionists included, who loudly object to the Occupation in the Palestinian territories, but see no problem with the continued existence of an Israel that privileges Jews over all others who happen to live there, particularly the Muslim, Christian and other non-Jewish" citizens." These people are referred to by Zionists as the "Arab-Israelis," but they are, of course, Palestinians. This population also includes a small number of Jews, people whose residence in Palestine pre-dated the Zionist immigration that started in the late 19th century. Those among them - and they may constitute the majority - who never bought into the Zionist ideology and are opposed to the State of Israel are treated pretty much the same as the other Palestinians, as less than human, untermenschen. This may come as a surprise to many, but it is perfectly understandable when one realizes that the Zionist project, although initially proposed and marketed by Western Europeans, became in due course an entirely Ashkenazi endeavor dominated by Eastern Europeans, the kind of people despised by the highly educated, cosmopolitan Viennese Jews like Theodor Herzl. These Ashkenazim (my ancestors) spoke Yiddish as their first language, no matter which country they happened to have been born in. The form of Zionism they promulgated has become known as "political Zionism," dominated by the followers of Vladimir Jabotinski, the father of 20th century Zionism, and the progenitor of the Likud Party. The opposition Labor Party stems from Ben Gurion, but the two parties are like the Republicrats in the U.S., two sides of the same coin.
Political Zionism is a far cry from the idealistic form that refined, cosmopolitan Jews like Herzl and his Western European (and North American) admirers thought that they had bought into. That is why the vast majority of them became disillusioned with the whole project long before Kristallnacht and then WWII. People like Einstein, Freud, Hannah Arendt, Judah Magnes and Martin Buber smelled a rat, and they made it clear that they had no interest in supporting the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. This was, in fact, the prevailing sentiment among the vast majority of Western European and North American Jews. All of that began to change in the late 30's and by the time of the liberation of the camps in 1945 this vociferous opposition faded away among Jewish liberals, progressives, socialists and humanists. European fascism of the Italian and German varieties ensured the success of political Zionism, the mirror image of Nazism, but with "the Jewish People" now cast as being simultaneously "the victims" and the "Master Race," just like their role models, the Nazis, before them. History not only repeats itself - it plays practical jokes.
Being against the Occupation is easy. After all, it violates numerous international conventions, entails daily crimes against humanity and just plain stinks to heaven. With a modicum of imagination, one can see that the Israelis, with their Matrix of Control, have erected a number of open air prisons, virtual concentration camps, but with the guards outside. So convenient - prisons in which the prisoners have to fend for themselves for the necessities of life - food, water, electricity - all of it supplied or witheld at the whim of the wardens who watch from a distance, utilizing collaborators and the latest in high-tech surveillance gear. Occasionaly, usually prompted by some act of desperation by a powerless people (a suicide bombing or a stray Qassam rocket, the modern equivalent of sling-shots), or merely a rumor that something's going on, they make periodic forays inside to "send a message," arrest "troublemakers," usually using Palestinian children as human shields and to touch off whatever booby traps might have been placed along the way. Occasionally, "sending a message" takes the form of a full-fledged massacre, as happened recently in Gaza. It's utterly despicable, reeking of the most egregious racism imaginable without even the slightest regard for human rights. But from the Israeli point of view the Palestinians aren't really human - they are "them," "the other," "the enemy."
However, there are those perfectly aware of the facts who still cling to the doomed fantasy of a Jewish State. They are people like Benny Morris, the Israeli historian who scrupulously chronicled the Nakba, but continues to support the existence of the Jewish State, even if that entails the total ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Likewise the old warhorse Uri Avnery, one of the most decent and courageous human beings I know of, who has heroically spoken out for decades against the obscenities perpetrated by Israel, yet clings to the notion that Israel could and should somehow survive as a Jewish nation, no matter how truncated. And then there is the army of so-called "progressives," who think likewise, and avidly support an imagined, reformed Israel while protesting against the Occupation. These people have co-opted any possibility that the world could easily come together to put an end to apartheid Israel as it did white supremacist South Africa.
The "Separation Wall" introduces an additional level of surrealism. Its similarity to the ghetto walls that the European Jews were so familiar with, that in a curious way provided a sense of comfort, familiarity and security to their residents - whatever the intentions of the builders may have been - has been noted by many. The transparently silly notion that it would "keep out terrorists" is far less convincing than the realization that it was a familiar reflex of the ancient paranoia - a tangible, if pathetic, defense against the goyim of whichever land the Jews were trespassing in. Always the trespassers, always the strangers in a strange land, doomed to stave off, for as long as possible, the inevitable rage their presence sooner or later engendered, the restrictions, the pogroms, and then, like clockwork, the expulsions. Behind the bellicose, militaristic, macho aggression of the Israelis - the arrogance and the gratuitous cruelty - lie the old fears, the inescapable paranoia, the unvoiced fear that "the Chosen Ones" were really chosen to suffer, and that sooner or later the ax would fall - as it surely will, because even the Zionists can't repeal the law of cause and effect. Who was it, Einstein, who defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result?
But let's assume that, miraculus miraculorum, the Israelis decide to back off (or, much more likely, are pressured to by the Obama administration and/or other forces currently percolating just beneath the surface), and, having completed their Apartheid wall, agree to remain behind it, content in their air-conditioned ghetto. At this point in time such an action would involve an actual commitment to allowing the creation of at least some facsimile of a Palestinian State on the other side of the wall, to somehow overseeing the evacuation of some half million Israelis from the West Bank (which would entail the forcible eviction of tens of thousands of fanatical settlers), to giving up control of all of the major water sources, to allowing the Palestinians the freedom to come and go as they see fit, and so on and so forth. When looked at closely, ending the Occupation at this juncture would necessitate unimaginable difficulties, not the least of which would be giving up the Zionist fantasy of Greater Israel, from the river to the sea. I don't speak of the grander version, meaning from the Euphrates to the Nile, but merely from the Jordan River to the Med.
In fact, it would entail giving up on Zionism altogether, because ethnocentric tribal fascism has an internal logic to it, a compulsion to conquer and expand or die - perpetual war is a necessary precondition for maintaining the dominance of its ruling class, whose very existence is predicated on doing battle with and defeating "the enemy," over and over again. Such a process inevitably plays itself out in defeat, as Alexander and the Macedonians discovered, as did the Romans, and most recently the Nazis. The Israeli power elite may be very smart and knowledgeable, technologically and militarily superior, but they are clearly ignoring Santayana's maxim that those who don't know history are bound to repeat it. No people are guiltier of that mistake than the Jews, who after centuries of getting themselves expelled from country after country, are setting themselves up for something that will make even what happened to them under Hitler look like a cakewalk.
When we talk about Zionism we are discussing an ideology, a set of ideas, narratives and myths that together constitute the political world view of a those who self-identify as belonging to the group professing that ideology, in this instance "the Jewish people." Although ideologies may present themselves as being universally true, they are generally based on some sort of group identification: tribal, ethnic (racial), national, religious, caste, and most recently, economic status. There is always an "Us" vs. "Them."
What after all is Zionism, stripped of its racial romanticism and mythology? It's essentially the last gasp of the same old European colonialism that has characterized the "modern" period of history, during which various European powers came to dominate the political, technological and economic landscape of the planet. Zionism evolved as a political ideology and a strategy to solve the problem that European Jews found themselves in, stateless and dispersed following the predations of the Mongols under Genghis Khan and the subsequent collapse of the Khazarian Empire. Their status pretty much everywhere in Europe was that of a despised minority (for perfectly understandable reasons too complex to go into here). In response, they developed a tribal mythology, based mostly on some stories in the Hebrew bible, in which they played the role of "the Chosen People," heroes of an epic in which they were constantly set upon, persecuted and threatened with destruction, but somehow feisty enough to survive. In other words, one could say that they developed a collective case of paranoid schizophrenia, according to which they (simultaneously the Elect of God and His victims) were constantly under attack by superior forces, but could imagine a way to escape and secure for themselves the sense of security they so desperately sought, a ghetto with walls strong and durable enough to keep the wolf perpetually at bay.
All this came to a head in the 19th Century, when the idea occurred to Theodor Herzl that the way out of this depressingly familiar pattern would be for the Jews to have a nation state of their own. This happened, not coincidentally, at the height of European Colonialism. Based on this rather simple notion an entire ideology had to be constructed in order to sell the idea, not only to the major players themselves, but to the so-called Jewish people. In order to do that, and this is just one aspect of a very complicated and not very funny joke, the "Jewish People" had to be invented. This is the subject of the Israeli historian Shlomo Sand's book, The Invention of the Jewish People. The forthcoming English translation (it will be available on October 19th) is eagerly anticipated . We can leave aside the fact that the notion that a Jewish colony could and should be planted in Palestine was actually a hare-brained scheme concocted in the first decade of the 19th Century in the British Foreign Office, where the idea soon died a quiet and unlamented death. And nevermind that gathering the Jews together in a ghetto constructed in the very epicenter of a people understandably indisposed to being dispossessed might bring about precisely the fate that the Zionists were and are so terrified of.
If one roots around in the online repository called "Zionist Quotes" one can find the intellectual building blocks that created modern Israel.They reveal that very process of inventing the necessary ideology, as well as the development of an overall strategy for going about the creation of the colonialist-settler nation state. Contained therein are numerous reflections about the nature of "the Jewish People" and Jewish identity that would have "the Inquisition" (those who maintain the Zionist orthodoxy) in a characteristic uproar about "antisemitism" and "self-hating Jews." They largely saw themselves as outcasts, almost like lepers who have decided they themselves would build a leper colony wherein they could be quarantined and thus left alone. It becomes clear from these texts that the early Zionists almost reveled in guilt and self-hatred, something that is so characteristic of Jewish literature, and lies, shadow-like, at the root of modern, triumphalist Zionism. As Karin Friedemann points out, "The Palestinians' ancestors created the Hasmonean Kingdom, composed the Hebrew Bible, followed Jesus, wrote the New Testament, compiled the Mishnah, and redacted the Jerusalem Talmud. The Palestinian people constitute the living link to the earliest beginnings of the heritage from the Torah and Gospel. Zionists are almost pitiable, for they are so ashamed of their own history that they have usurped one belonging to another people."
There is a category of political ideologies that Zionism fits perfectly into. It is called fascism. Although the dictionaries define fascism as the particular ideology espoused by Hitler and Mussolini in the 20th century, the roots of fascism go back to the very first emergence in human history of what could be termed political thought . Those familiar with the great spiritual traditions are aware that the principal obstacle to human wisdom and happiness is considered to be our habit of putting our own interests before those of others, as opposed to some variation of the Golden Rule, the point where all wisdom traditions, even theistic religions, agree. The opposite, neurotic tendency derives from the mistaken belief that we are solid, continuous individuals, self-existing and autonomous. Hence the notions of "self," or "soul," as well as belief systems that inculcate the notion that God (a religious metaphorical term that solidifies and embodies all that is not "me") is at least on "our" side. All wisdom paths teach that dissolving this mistaken belief in the existence of "ego" is the only way of arriving at any sort of genuine sanity.
What is not talked about so much is the problem of "group ego," which is essentially the same psychological phenomenon, but applied to a collection of people with whom we closely identify rather than just our individual selves. This propensity manifests itself first in our close identification with our family and then extends out to include our felt bond with friends, neighbors, town or city, and so on, until it includes such collective concepts as our co-religionists, our gender, nation, race, class and so forth. This is the Us and Them duality that mirrors the basic duality of Self and Other. It is the underlying rationale for all wars and acts of officially sanctioned aggression against the "Other." Consequently, building a sane human society is not possible without conquering this tendency to elevate and privilege "our" group over others. Psychologically speaking, rooting for the Red Sox or the Yankees involves the same psycho-dynamics that lead to deadly riots in soccer stadiums, and on to wars of aggression. It is neither good nor bad, rather it is simply a stage to be experienced and then left behind on the path to maturity, a condition that is characterized by, among other things, the awareness that all beings are connected and interdependent.
The development of both individual and group egos are artifacts of a natural psychological process. Just as the butterfly is the final form following embryo, larva and pupa; and the lotus flower follows seed, root and stem, human beings undergo a similar metamorphosis. Conventional political views are characteristic of an adolescent stage of life that primarily concerns itself with one's perceived individual and group interests. Such views naturally clash with how others perceive their interests, and the results are obvious when we watch the news. The conditions created by invoking the "I" as opposed to "You," or the "We" as opposed to "Them," creates a battleground wherein the destructive emotions of passion, aggression, ignorance, arrogance and envy are given full play. Clearly, human society as a whole has not yet evolved beyond this stage of social development. But the possibility is there, just as the seed prefigures the flower. A number of people, those who have embodied wisdom from many places and traditions, have shown the way, though few follow. The path to a genuine "adulthood" is difficult, particularly from within the lunatic asylum where we find ourselves, but it is traversible.
What we have been talking about is fascism, the ideological underpinning of the Jewish State. There is also a religious underpinning (not Judaism - the Jewish Zionists, after all, are and always have been overwhelmingly secular), and that is the Holycause (not to say that Jewish religious fundamentalism doesn't play a part). The ideology and the religion are symbiotic, as has always been the case in human societies. Church and State reinforce and support one another. The Holycause is remarkably similar to the underlying myth of Christianity, that someone, after undergoing unimaginable agony, died for our sins. In the case of the Holycause, six million Jews died so that Israel could be born. Never mind that the six million number goes back to 1912 (a vague guess at the number of Jews in Europe at the time) and only later became attached to the Jewish victims of the Third Reich (one of many disputed or easily refutable "facts" enumerated by the "official" version of the Holocaust, but woe betide any truthseekers who dare to undertake a critical analysis of what actually happened - you will be hauled before the ever vigilant officers of the Holycause Inquisition, and betimes taken to the rack). We are talking about a religion and therefore facts are fungible, as their meaning is symbolic rather than historical. And never mind that the actual survivors of that catastrophe who now live in Israel are a despised underclass (one third of them living in dire poverty), treated with utter contempt by the native born Israelis who are so fiercely proud of their manly, heroic battle against the fearsome foe. It is not the real victims who matter (the Zionists willingly sacrificed hundreds of thousands of European Jews in pursuit of their goal), but the symbolism of their victimhood.
The Zionists remain in total denial. As Saree Makdisi points out, they are able to blithely build a "Museum of Tolerance" above the graves of a centuries old Palestinian cemetary, the people they have been assiduously trying to exterminate, without showing any signs of cognitive dissonance. He refers to it as a horizontal wall, to complement the vertical Separation Wall being constructed in Jerusalem. The whole process of creating an impregnable ghetto, bristling with overpowering firepower, only invites destruction. This is, indeed, the goal of Christian Zionism, the cult of the Rapture, which foresees the end of the world and the final elimination of the Jews. They are perhaps even more psychotic than the Jewish Zionists. One could say, in the poetic language of the Abrahamic tradition, that the State of Israel is the Devil's masterpiece.
There is really only one way to resolve the dilemma posed by the existence of the Jewish state in humanity's heartland, and that is to change the existing configuration, a Rube Goldberg political contraption designed to maintain a Jewish majority in a putative Western-style democracy. The obvious alternative is the gold standard of contemporary nation states, a secular, pluralistic democracy consisting of all those who have an obvious right to be there (this includes all of the Palestinians, wherever they happen to be currently residing, as is clearly enshrined in international law), but does not necessarily include recent immigrants, particularly the fanatics from Brooklyn who form the majority of the illegal settlers (well, they're all illegal, but what is meant here is illegal even according to Israeli law), nor would it include recently arrived terrorists like the Moldavian Avigdor Lieberman. Anyone not born there would be subject to deportation. To use a well known phrase, this would entail wiping Israel off the map. That would be a great boon to the mapmakers, as the Israelis have always refused to define their borders, pending the establishment of Greater Israel.
This can be brought about through a purely political process that doesn't require the spilling of one drop of blood. It would be like extinguishing a raging fire that has gotten totally out of control and is threatening to consume much of the world. Yes, they do have nuclear weapons, and they aren't shy about what they call "the Sampson option." There is no use in hoping that governments will solve this problem - the Zionists have managed to get their hands on all the levers of power in most of what is called the First World, particularly in the U.S., the heart of the Empire. Only ordinary people, and most particularly those Jews who haven't fallen under the hypnotic spell of Zionist hasbara - by fearlessly proclaiming truth to power - have any hope of waking up slumbering humanity and avoiding the seemingly inevitable. Zionists take heed - to quote a poetic metaphor from the bible, "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I shall repay." Or, as it is expressed in post-modernist America, "what goes around comes around."
Labels: rabbinical judaism, Zionism
New Rule: If America Can't Get it Together, We Lose the Bald Eagle
(I don't like Bill Maher one bit, but this time is sure got it right - VS)
By Bill Maher for the Huffington Post
New Rule: If America can't get its act together, it must lose the bald eagle as our symbol and replace it with the YouTube video of the puppy that can't get up. As long as we're pathetic, we might as well act like it's cute. I don't care about the president's birth certificate, I do want to know what happened to "Yes we can." Can we get out of Iraq? No. Afghanistan? No. Fix health care? No. Close Gitmo? No. Cap-and-trade carbon emissions? No. The Obamas have been in Washington for ten months and it seems like the only thing they've gotten is a dog.
Well, I hate to be a nudge, but why has America become a nation that can't make anything bad end, like wars, farm subsidies, our oil addiction, the drug war, useless weapons programs - oh, and there's still 60,000 troops in Germany - and can't make anything good start, like health care reform, immigration reform, rebuilding infrastructure. Even when we address something, the plan can never start until years down the road. Congress's climate change bill mandates a 17% cut in greenhouse gas emissions... by 2020! Fellas, slow down, where's the fire? Oh yeah, it's where I live, engulfing the entire western part of the United States!
We might pass new mileage standards, but even if we do, they wouldn't start until 2016. In that year, our cars of the future will glide along at a breathtaking 35 miles-per-gallon. My goodness, is that even humanly possible? Cars that get 35 miles-per-gallon in just six years? Get your head out of the clouds, you socialist dreamer! "What do we want!? A small improvement! When do we want it!? 2016!"
When it's something for us personally, like a laxative, it has to start working now. My TV remote has a button on it now called "On Demand". You get your ass on my TV screen right now, Jon Cryer, and make me laugh. Now! But when it's something for the survival of the species as a whole, we phase that in slowly.
Folks, we don't need more efficient cars. We need something to replace cars. That's what's wrong with these piddly, too-little-too-late half-measures that pass for "reform" these days. They're not reform, they're just putting off actually solving anything to a later day, when we might by some miracle have, a) leaders with balls, and b) a general populace who can think again. Barack Obama has said, "If we were starting from scratch, then a single-payer system would probably make sense." So let's start from scratch.
Even if they pass the shitty Max Baucus health care bill, it doesn't kick in for 4 years, during which time 175,000 people will die because they're not covered, and about three million will go bankrupt from hospital bills. We have a pretty good idea of the Republican plan for the next three years: Don't let Obama do anything. What kills me is that that's the Democrats' plan, too.
We weren't always like this. Inert. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law and 11 months later seniors were receiving benefits. During World War II, virtually overnight FDR had auto companies making tanks and planes only. In one eight year period, America went from JFK's ridiculous dream of landing a man on the moon, to actually landing a man on the moon.
This generation has had eight years to build something at Ground Zero. An office building, a museum, an outlet mall, I don't care anymore. I'm tempted to say that, symbolically, all America can do lately is keep digging a hole, but Ground Zero doesn't represent a hole. It is a hole. America: Home of the Freedom Pit. Ironically, it's spitting distance from Wall Street, where they knock down buildings a different way - through foreclosure.
That's the ultimate sign of our lethargy: millions thrown out of their homes, tossed out of work, lost their life savings, retirements postponed - and they just take it. 30% interest on credit cards? It's a good thing the Supreme Court legalized sodomy a few years ago.
Why can't we get off our back? Is it something in the food? Actually, yes. I found out something interesting researching last week's editorial on how we should be taxing the unhealthy things Americans put into their bodies, like sodas and junk foods and gerbils. Did you know that we eat the same high-fat, high-carb, sugar-laden shit that's served in prisons and in religious cults to keep the subjects in a zombie-like state of lethargic compliance? Why haven't Americans arisen en masse to demand a strong public option? Because "The Bachelor" is on. We're tired and our brain stems hurt from washing down French fries with McDonald's orange drink.
The research is in: high-fat diets makes you lazy and stupid. Rats on an American diet weren't motivated to navigate their maze and once in the maze they made more mistakes. And, instead of exercising on their wheel, they just used it to hang clothes on. Of course we can't ban assault rifles - we're the first generation too lazy to make its own coffee. We're the generation that invented the soft chocolate chip cookie: like a cookie, only not so exhausting to chew. I ask you, if the food we're eating in America isn't making us stupid, how come the people in Carl's Jr. ads never think to put a napkin over their pants?
Labels: decline and fall of the Empire
The Siege of Tegucigalpa
Labels: honduras, military coup, Tegucigalpa
What would it take to make them understand?!
Here are some of the figures which Michael Moore gave to Amy Goodman today on Democracy Now:
This is the way it is now in this country. The wealthiest one percent right have more financial wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined. When you have a situation like that, where the one percent essentially not only own all the wealth, but own Congress, call the shots, are we really telling the truth when we call this a democracy?
The number one reason, it turns out, that people lose their homes is because of medical bills. It's the number one cause of foreclosure and the number one cause of bankruptcies in this country. And we're at a point right now where one in eight homes are either in delinquency or foreclosure, homes with mortgages, and there's a foreclosure filing in this country once every seven-and-a-half seconds. Every seven-and-a-half seconds there's a foreclosure filing in this country. I mean, this is a crisis.
You know, I can't stand the nightly news with that Dow Jones average they always show to report how well the wealthy are doing on Wall Street and how it's climbing every day, etc., etc., and there's never any indicators about what's happening to people in their daily lives, the bulk of the people in this country, the 14,000 yesterday who lost their health insurance and the 14,000 who will lose their health insurance today and tomorrow and the day after that. Where's that index?
How long will this insane obscenity go on?
Labels: economic crisis, imperial collapse
Why are they walking out?
Predictably, a group of pro-Zionist countries has staged a walkout yesterday at the UN during Iranian President Ahmadinejad's speech. Here are the words which triggered this walkout:
How can one imagine that the inhuman policies in Palestine may continue; to force the entire population of a country out of their homeland for more than 60 years by resorting to force and coercion; to attack them with all types of arms and even prohibited weapons; to deny them of their legitimate right of self-defense, while much to the chagrin of the international community calling the occupiers as the peacelovers, and portraying the victims as terrorists. How can the crimes of the occupiers against defenseless women and children and destruction of their homes, farms, hospitals and schools be supported unconditionally by certain governments, and at the same time, the oppressed men and women be subject to genocide and heaviest economic blockade being denied of their basic needs, food, water and medicine. They are not even allowed to rebuild their homes which were destroyed during the 22-day barbaric attacks by the Zionist regime while the winter is approaching. Whereas the aggressors and their supporters deceitfully continue their rhetoric in defense of human rights in order to put others under pressure. It is no longer acceptable that a small minority would dominate the politics, economy and culture of major parts of the world by its complicated networks, and establish a new form of slavery, and harm the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the U.S., to attain its racist ambitions.
I have marked in read above the parts which are, according the the speaker, fact. In blue, I have singled out the speaker's comments. Now let's ask ourselves which part are the "offending" ones? Are the "Ziophiles" (is that how supporters of Zionism should be called?) disputing the fact or not? Clearly, if they accept that these facts are not disputable, and they are not, then how can they possibly reject the characterizations of these facts by Ahmadinejad?!
Here are the delegations which, as far as I could find out, walkout out: Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand and the United States (Canada followed Israel's instructions and never even showed up).
The usual list of countries unconditionally supporting Israel typically includes the "Echelon countries" Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and what Norman Finkelstein calls the "Pacific powerhouses": the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Tuvalu and Palau (did they walk out too?). Add to this turbo-Zionist and Zarkozy-run France and Berlusconi-run Italy (both Echelon-wannabes for sure). Argentina has always been something of an Israeli colony anyways, Costa Rica still is an American colony, Germany has to "out-Zionize" everybody else because of "guilt" and Hungary still hopes to get some missiles.
It is reassuring that out of the 192 nations forming the United Nations only a small number of spineless delegations decided to participate in the latest buffoonery and it is outright pitiful and laughable that the Israelis are back-slapping each other on such as "success".
The most ironic thing in this issue is, of course, that the Ziophiles vilify Ahmadinejad for allegedly denying a genocide which occurred 60 years ago while they themselves walk out of a room as soon as a speaker mentions the indisputable genocide* which is currently taking place in Palestine!
If what we saw yesterday is the extent of the "muscle" of the USraelian Empire then we can say with some confidence that its days are numbered.
*definition of "genocide": "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group" (Merriam Webster online); does anybody seriously deny that this is exactly what is taking place in Palestine?!
Labels: Iran, UN, USraelian Empire, Ziophiles
Speech of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations
(Note: Since I very doubt that many media outlets will provide the full speech of Ahmadinejad at the UN, I grabbed the PDF of his speech on the UN website, ran it throught Kword, cleaned it up and little and posted it here. One note of caution: this version is based on the speech he submitted, and could differ from what he actually said. Also - since this text is computer generated, their might well be some typos. VS)
'Name of Qod, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Praise Be to fillah, the Lord of the "Universe, and peace and blessing
be upon our Master and (prophet, Mohammad, and his pure 'Household, and his noble Companions"
"Oh, god, hasten the arrival of Imam fit- Mahdi and grant him good health and victory and make us his followers and those who attest to his rightfulness"
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank the Almighty God for granting me, once more, this opportunity to address this important international meeting.
I wish to begin by congratulating you, Mr. President, for having assumed the presidency of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly and wish you all the success. I also extend my thanks to H.E. Mr. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63rd Session of the General Assembly, for his excellent stewardship of the work of the General Assembly during his term.
Over the past four years I have talked to you concerning the main challenges facing our world. I have talked about the roots and underlying causes of these challenges and the need for the world powers to review their outlook and workout new mechanisms to address the pressing international problems. I have talked about the two conflicting outlooks prevailing in our world; one that is based on the predominance of its materialisticinterests throughspreading inequality and oppression, poverty and deprivation, aggression, occupation and deception, and tends to bring the entire world under its control and impose its will on other nations. This outlook has produced nothing but frustration, disappointment and a dark future for the entire humanity.
The other outlook is the one that spouses with the belief in the oneness of the Almighty God, follows the teaching of His messengers, respects human dignity and seeks to build a secure world for all members of the human community, in which everybody can equally enjoy the blessings of sustainable peace and spirituality. The latter is an outlook that respects all human beings, nations, and valuable cultures in defiance of all types of discrimination in the world, and commits itself into a constant fight to promote equality for all before the law on the basis of justice and fraternity, laying a solid foundation to guarantee equal access for all human beings in their quest to excel in knowledge and science.
I have laid emphasis time and again on the need to make fundamental changes in the current attitudes towards the world and the human being in order to be able to create a bright tomorrow.
Friends and Colleagues;
Today, I wish to share with you a few points about the changes that should take place.
First, Clearly, continuation of the current circumstances in the world is impossible. The present inequitable and unfavorable conditions run counter to the very nature of human kind and move in a direction which contravenes the truth and the goal behind the creation of the world.
It is no longer possible to inject thousands of billions of dollars of unreal wealth to the world economy simply by printing worthless paper assets, or transfer inflation as well as social and economic problems to others through creating sever budget deficits. The engine of unbridled capitalism with its unfair system of thought has reached the end of road and is unable to move. The era of capitalist thinking and . imposition of one's thoughts on the international community, intended to predominate the world in the name of globalization and the age of setting up empires is over. It is no longer possible to humiliate nations and impose double standard policies on the world community.
Approaches in which realization of the interests of certain powers is considered as the only criteria to weigh democracy, and using the ugliest methods of intimidation and deceit under the mantle of freedom as a democratic practice, and approaches through which sometimes dictators are portrayed as democrats, lack legitimacy and must be totally rejected.
The time has come to an end for those who define democracy and freedom and set standards whilst they themselves are the first who violate its fundamental principles. They can no longer sit both the judge and the executor and challenge the real democratically- established governments.
The awakening of nations and the expansion of freedom worldwide will no longer allow them to continue their hypocrisy and vicious attitudes. Because of all these reasons most nations including the people of the Untied States are waiting for real and profound changes.They have welcomed and will continue to welcome changes.
How can one imagine that the inhuman policies in Palestine may continue; to force the entire population of a country out of their homeland for more than 60 years by resorting to force and coercion; to attack them with all types of arms and even prohibited weapons; to deny them of their legitimate right of self-defense, while much to the chagrin of the international community calling the occupiers as the peacelovers, and portraying the victims as terrorists.
How can the crimes of the occupiers against defenseless women and children and destructionof their homes, farms, hospitalsand schoolsbe supported unconditionally by certain governments, and at the same time, the oppressed men and women be subject to genocide and heaviest economic blockade being denied of their basic needs, food, water and medicine.
They are not even allowed to rebuild their homes which were destroyed during the 22-day barbaric attacks by the Zionist regime while the winter is approaching. Whereas the aggressors and their supporters deceitfully continue their rhetoric in defense of human rights in order to put others under pressure.
It is no longer acceptable that a small minority would dominate the politics, economy and culture of major parts of the world by its complicated networks, and establish a new form of slavery, and harm the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the U.S., to attain its racist ambitions.
It is not acceptable that some who are several thousands of kilometers away from the Middle East would send their troops for military intervention and for spreading war, bloodshed, aggression, terror and intimidation in the whole region while blaming the protests of nations in the region, that are concerned about their fate and their national security, as a move against peace and as interference in others' affairs. Look at the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is no longer possible to bring a country under military occupation in the name of fight against terrorism and drug trafficking while the production of illicit drugs has multiplied, terrorism has widened its dimensions and has tightened its grips, thousands of innocent people have been killed, injured or displaced, infrastructures have been destroyed and regional security has been seriously jeopardized; and those who have created the current disastrous situation continue to blame others. How you can talk about friendship and solidarity with other nations while you expand your military bases in different parts of the world including in Latin America. This situation cannot continue. It is all the more impossible to advance expansionist and inhuman policies on the basis of militaristic logic.The logic of coercion and
intimidation will produce dire consequences, exacerbating the present global problems.
It is not acceptable that the military budget of some governments exceeds far larger than those of the entire countries of the world. They export billions of dollars of arms every year, stockpile chemical and biological weapons, establish military bases or have military presence in other countries while accusing others of militarism, and mobilize all their resources in the world to impede scientific and technological progress of other nations under the pretext of countering arms proliferation.
It is not acceptable that the United Nations and the Security Council, whose decisions must represent all nations and governments by the application of the most democratic methods in their decision making processes, be dominated by a few governments and serve their interests. In a world where cultures, thoughts and public opinions should be the determining factors, the continuation of the present situation is impossible, and fundamental changes seem to be unavoidable.
Second; Any change must be structural and fundamental both in theory and practice, involving all domains of our life. The outdated mechanisms which themselves were instrumental in and the root cause for present problems in human societies can never be used to bring changes and create our desired world. Liberalism and capitalism that have alienated human beings from heavenly and moral values will never bring happiness for humanity because they are the main source of all misfortune wars, poverty and deprivation.
We have all seen that how the inequitable economic structures controlled by certain political interests have been used to plunder national wealth of countries for the benefit of a group of corrupt business giants. The present structures are incapable of reforming the present situation.
The political and economic structures created following the World War II that was based on intentions to dominate the world failed to promote justice and lasting security.
Rulers whose hearts do not beat for the love of humankind and who sacrificed the spirit of justice in their minds never offer the promise of peace and friendship to humanity. By the grace of God, Marxism is gone. It is now history. The expansionist Capitalism will certainly have the same fate. Because based on the divine traditions referred to as a principle in the Holy Quran, the wrong like the bubbles on the surface of water, will disappear. There remains only what that can be used forever towards the interest of human societies.
We must all remain vigilant to prevent the pursuit of colonialist, discriminatory and inhuman goals under the cover of the slogans for change and in new formats. The world needs to undergo fundamental changes and all must engage collectively to make them happen in the right direction, and through such efforts no one and no government would consider itself an exception to change or superior to others and try to impose its will on others by proclaiming world leadership.
All problems existing in our world today emanate from the fact that rulers have distanced themselves from human values, morality and the teachings of divine messengers. Regrettably, in the current international relations, selfishness and insatiable greed have taken the place of such humanitarian concepts as love, sacrifice, dignity, and justice. The belief in the One God has been replaced with selfishness. Some have taken the place of God and insist to impose their values and wishes on others. Lies have taken the place of honesty; hypocrisy has replaced integrity and selfishness has taken the place of sacrifice. Deception in interactions is called foresight and statesmanship; looting the wealth of other nations is called development efforts; occupationis introduced as a gift towards promotion of freedom and democracy, and defenseless nations are subjected to repression in the name of defending human rights.
Friends and Colleagues; Settlement of global problems and administration of justice and maintenance of peace will only be materialized with collective determination and cooperation of all nations and states. The age of polarizing the world on the premises of the hegemony or domination of a few governments is over.
Today we must rise together in a collective commitment against the present challenges; we must take change seriously and help others through collective work to return to the basic moral and human values. Messengers were sent by God to show the light of the truth to human kind, they came to make people aware of their individual
and social obligations.Piety, having faith to Allah and its judgment of human behavior or conduct in the next world, belief in the primacy of justice in both lives, seeking one's happiness, well being and security in the happiness, well-being and security of others, respecting human kind, making efforts to expand love and compassion against hostility were all on top of the teachings offered by the Messengers of God from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ and the last one Prophet Mohamamd (PUH). All of them came to do something to eliminate war and ignorance, to eradicate poverty and uproot discrimination in order to spread happiness in the entire world. They are the best gifts that God Almighty has granted to human beings.
If the belief in Entezar( A waiting patiently for the Imam to return) will turn into a common and we join hands to achieve prosperity for all, then there will be more real and increasing hopes for reform.
Fourth; In my opinion, we have several important agendas in front of us. The SecretaryGeneral and the UN General Assembly can take the lead by undertaking necessary measures for the fulfillment of our shared goals on the basis of:
1 -Restructuring the United Nations in order to transform this world body to an efficient and fully democratic organization, capable of playing an impartial, equitable, and effective role in the international relations; reforming the structure of the Security Council, specially by abolishing the discriminatory privilege of veto right; restoration of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people by organizing a referendum and free elections in Palestine in order to prepare a conducive ground for all Palestinian populations, including Muslims, Christians and Jews to live together in peace and harmony; putting an end to all types of interferences in the affairs of Iraq, Afghanistan, Middle East, and in all countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe.
As our great Prophet said, a government may survive with blasphemy, but never with oppression. Oppression against Palestinians and violation of their rights still continue; a new group of Palestinians who lived in al-Qod al-Sharif were again forced out of their homes as the destruction of their residential homes continues by the occupiers; bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan have not yet sopped; and Guantanamo Prison has not yet been shut down and there are still secret prisons in Europe Ċontinuation of the present situationadds to hostilities and violence.
Oppression and military aggression must be stopped.Regrettably, official reports concerning the brutalities of the Zionist regime in Gaza have not been completely published. The Secretary-General and the United Nations have crucial responsibilities in this respect and the international community is impatiently waiting for the punishment of the aggressors and the murderers of the defenseless people of Gaza.
2-Reformingthe current economicstructures and setting up a new international economic order based on human and moral values and obligations. A new course is needed that would help promote justice and progress worldwide by flourishing the potentials and talents of all nations thus bringing well-being for all and for future generations;
3-Reforming the international political relations based on the promotion of lasting peace and friendship, eradication of arms race and elimination of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons;
4-Reforming cultural structures , respect for diverse customs and traditions of all nations, fostering moral values and spirituality aimed at institution of family as the backbone of all human societies;
5-Worldwide efforts to protect the environment and full observance of the international agreements and arrangements to prevent the annihilation of nature's non-renewable resources.
Fifth; Our nation has successfully gone through a glorious and fully- democratic election, opening a new chapter for our country in the march towards national progress and enhanced international interactions. They entrusted me once more with a large majority this heavy responsibility.
And now, I want to declare that our great nation that has made great contribution to the world civilization, and the Islamic Republic of Iran as one of the most democratic and progressive governments of the world is ready to mobilize all its cultural, political and economic capabilities to engage into constructive process aimed at addressing the international concerns and challenges. Our country has been a main victim of terrorism and the target of an all-out military aggression during the first decade of the revolution.
All through the past thirty years we have been subject to hostile attitudes of those who supported Saddam's military aggression and his use of chemical weapons against us, and then they took military action in Iraq to get rid of him. Today, our nation seeks to create a world in which justice and compassion prevail. We announce our commitment to participate in the process of building a durable peace and security worldwide for all nations based on justice, spirituality and human dignity, while being dedicated to strongly defending our legitimate and legal rights.
To materialize these goals, our nation is prepared to warmly shake all those hands which are honestly extended to us. No nation can claim to be free from the need to change and reform in this journey towards perfectness. We welcome real and humane changes and stand ready to actively engage in fundamental global reforms.
Therefore, we emphasize that:
-The only path to remain safe is to return to monotheism (believing in the Oneness of God) and justice, and this is the greatest hope and opportunity in all ages and generations. Without belief in God and commitment to the cause of justice and fight against injustice and discrimination, the world architect would not get right.
Man is at the center of the universe. The man's unique feature is his humanity. The same feature which seeks for justice, piety, love, knowledge, awareness and all other high values. These human values should be supported, and each and every fellow humans should be given the opportunity to acquire them. Neglecting any of them is tantamount to the omission of a constituting piece of humanity. These are common elements which connect all human communities and constitute the basis of peace, security and friendship.
The divine religions pay attention to all aspects of human life, including obedience to God, morality, justice, fighting oppression, and endeavor to establish just and good governance. Prophet Abraham called for Oneness of God against Nimrod, as Prophet Moses did the same against Pharaohs and the Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon them) did against the oppressors of their own time. They were all threatened to death and were forced out of their homelands.
Without resistance and objection, the injustices would not be removed from the face of the earth.
Sixth; (Dearfriends andcoCCeagues; The world is in continuous change and evolution. The promised destiny for the mankind is the establishment of the humane pure life. Will come a time when justice will prevail across the globe and every single human being will enjoy respect and dignity. That will be the time when the Mankind's path to moral and spiritual perfectness will be opened and his journey to God and the manifestation of the God's Divine Names will come true. The mankind should excel to represent the God's "knowledge and wisdom", His "compassion and benevolence", His "justice and fairness", His "power and art", and His "kindness and forgiveness".
These will all come true under the rule of the Perfect Man, the last Divine Source on earth, Hazrat Mahdi (Peace be upon him); an offspring of the Prophet of Islam, who will re-emerge, and Jesus Christ (Peace be upon him) and other noble men will accompany him in the accomplishment of this, grand universal mission. And this is the belief in Entezar (Awaiting patiently for the Imam to return). Waiting with patience for the rule of goodness and the governance of the Best which is a universal human notion and which is a source of nations' hope for the betterment of the world.
They will come, and with the help of righteous people and true believers will materialize the man's long-standing desires for freedom, perfectness, maturity, security and tranquility, peace and beauty. They will come to put an end to war and aggression and present the entire knowledge as well as spirituality and friendship to the whole world.
Yes; Indeed, the bright future for the mankind will come.
Dear friends, In waiting for that brilliant time to come and in a collective commitment, let's make due contributions in paving the grounds and preparing the conditions for building that bright future.
Long live love and spirituality; long live peace and security; long live justice and freedom.
God's Peace and blessing be upon you all.
Labels: Ahmadinejad, speech transcript, UN
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Al Qods Day speech
Today is Al Qods Day. It's the last Friday of the holy Month of Ramadan. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the establishment of the Islamic Republic in it, the toppling of the US-Israeli Shah Pahlavi regime and the transformation of the Israeli Embassy in Tehran to the first Palestinian Embassy in the whole world, Imam Khomeini (May Allah glorify his soul) announced the last Friday of the Holy Month of Ramadan of every year as AlQods International Day for evident reasons related to reviving the cause of Palestine and reminding the nation of its historic responsibilities. Following the decease of the Imam (May Allah glorify his soul), His Eminence Imam Sayyed Khamenai carried on his track and course stressing his commitments to the late Imam's principles and stances in all perspectives on top of which are the cause of Palestine, Al Qods, the Arab-Israeli struggle, backing the Palestinian people, the Arab peoples in the region and the resistance movements. Thus after the decease of the Imam, Al Qods Day remained one of the most important causes which the Imam left among his holy, glorified, great and lasting heritage.
Al Qods Day is the day of the holy city with what and who are in it including the threatened religious sanctities of both Muslims and Christians. Someone might ask: are there no sanctities for Jews in Al Qods? There is controversy over this issue. What the children of Israel have done through history with their prophets, themselves, their tribes, their clans and those who overpowered them didn't preserve and keep anything for them. So the city with all its religious sanctities is threatened, and Al Qods Day is the day of the city and whoever are in it among its Arab people- Muslims and Christians alike – who are threatened of being uprooted also.
Al Qods Day is the day of Palestine – all Palestine from the sea to the river. Al Qods Day is the day of the Palestinian and Arab prisoners who are jailed in occupation prisons. Al Qods Day is the day of Palestinian refugees whether in Palestine of in exodus. Al Qods Day is the day of the patient, fighting, resisting and steadfast besieged Gaza. Al Qods Day is the day of the Palestinian resistance with all its factions and currents. It's the day of the Lebanese, Arab and Islamic resistance. It's the day of every resistant fighter who opposes and remains steadfast in face of the Zionist project in our region. Al Qods Day is the day of the nation, the day of reviving the nation and the day of reminding the nation of both its historic and religious responsibilities.
The main issue of Al Qods Day before whatever topics and details – the key as we always put it – is the stance from the Zionist occupation of the Palestine lands and the Arab lands which are still under occupation whether Golan Heights or Shebaa Farms or Kfar Shouba Heights. So the main issue is the stance from the occupation and consequently the stance from this entity which was formed and established on the bases of occupation and control. We have a clear stance and firm and final principle which we always express on Al Qods Day regardless of the diverse viewpoints whether in or outside Lebanon. That's because what is right is right and must be said and announced aloud and because what is false is false and must be denied, refused and confronted. We frankly and openly say that Palestine from the sea to the river is the property of the Palestinian people and the whole nation. The Zionists have no right in this land. We are ready to discuss this topic on religious, historic, rational and legal bases depending on holy books including the Old Testament which is widespread and recognized now among the Jews of this time. Based on what has been acknowledged by people all through history, we stress that Palestine is the right of this people and this nation and it's not the right of the Zionists at all. In the Holy Month of Ramadan when Muslims recite the Holy Qoran and seek to complete reading the whole Book of Allah more than once, interpretations assemble in the minds clearly. The Holy Qoran tackles repetitively the stories of the children of Israel and the prophets of the children of Israel. Such concepts were mentioned in previous books especially in Torah and the other books Allah revealed to the prophets of the children of Israel. We recognize based on the Qoran and our Islamic teachings that Allah Al Mighty promised Abrams (pbuh) to give his descendants the holy Land. We do not deny that. That is present in our Qoranic text. Back also to the Qoran, the Old Testament, the sayings of the prophets of the children of Israel and the historic events, Allah Al Mighty promised the descendants of Abrams the Holy Land; but the descendants of Abrams are not only the Jews and the Zionists as a political or religious trend or as a tribe and race. A great section of Arabs are among the descendants of Abrams (pbuh). The descendants of Abrams are from Ishmael and Isaac. But in the Torah, the Bible, the Psalms and the Qoran, Allah promised the descendants of Abrams the Holy land. Which descendants? They are the good, the believers, the chaste and the pious among them. They are the followers of Abrams the father and the prophet and the followers of religion of Abrams (pbuh). As for the descendants of Abrams who are criminals and killers who slaughtered prophets, spread corruption on earth and perpetrated horrible deeds and great sins, they are not promised in the first place to say the promise was withdrawn. They are not promised on the first hand. In the Old Testament and in history books after Moses (pbuh) crossed with the children of Israel towards Palestine and the Holy Land, the children of Israel worshiped the bull and the idols and disobeyed Allah and harmed His prophet and conspired against him and his brother Aaron. Allah ordered them to go astray in the desert of that land for forty years. So they are not promised. When the disobedient and their descendents who denied the blessings of Allah were terminated – after forty years – the children of the prophet of Allah Joshua entered the Holy Land. They were the religious, pious and devout descendants of the children of Israel from the descendants of Abrams. Still when they resorted again to corruption and killing the prophets, Allah Almighty controlled over them who killed them, destroyed them and dispersed them. Now they are digging under the Al Aqsa Mosque in search for a temple which was destroyed three thousands years ago due to their crimes and corruption. Neither in the Torah, nor in the Bible, nor in the Psalms, nor in the Qoran nor in any divine book is there but one principle: The land is Allah's. He bequeaths it to whoever He wants among his good servants. This land is the promise of Allah to the good among his servants.
On Al Qods Day in the month of fasting and night-worship, I say specifically to Muslims who are fasting worldwide: If you really want to fast, today we are verifying an aspect of fasting. "O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may learn self-restraint". The aim of fasting is to become self-restraint and pious. Pious means that we do not anger Allah by any of our sayings or deeds. Pious means to label what's right as right and what is false as false. Pious means that we do not alter what is right to what is false and what is false to what is right due to fear or greed. Today, you and I - who responded to the eternal call of Imam Khomeini (May Allah glorify his soul) announce hereof from the Compound of Sayyed Ashuhada (pbuh) which embraced the bodies of our martyrs in the resistance and still does - announce our steadfast adherence to the principles which will never alter:
First: Historic Palestine from the sea to the river is for the Palestinian People and the whole nation.
Second: No one in the world – whether Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and Christian no matter what historic, revolutionary, public, legal or constitutional representation or legitimacy he claimed - has the right or is allowed to concede one grain of soil from the land of Palestine or a drop of water in Palestine or one letter of the name of Palestine.
Third: the Israeli entity founded on the land of Palestine is a usurping, occupying, aggressive, cancerous, illegal and illegitimate entity.
Forth: No one has the right to recognize this entity or acknowledge its legitimacy or recognize its existence.
Fifth: Dealing with Israel is prohibited. Normalization with Israel is prohibited. This is what Muslim scholars, jurists and authorities unanimously agree on. Whoever says otherwise let him show up and give his evidences. These principles and firm beliefs are not changed at all with time, circumstances, and conditions of strength and weakness. Brothers and sisters! Some talk about our inability; we might really be for one reason or another unable to liberate Palestine and restore the Holy site of Al Qods in the current circumstance. We might be unable to do anything at all. We might be unable to get entangled in a war, to resist or to make an uprising, but we are not obliged at all to recognize, acknowledge, succumb or give in to our enemy and seal for him the title deed and the bill of legally controlling our land, holy sites and wealth. No one can impose any such thing on us. This is a psychological, personal and public stance. This is the stance of the nation. No one can impose any other thing on us. This is our nation. For more than sixty years, the whole world is pressing to recognize Israel, deal with Israel and normalize with Israel. Still they could not impose that on us. Even the countries which have made so called peace agreements with Israel could not impose on their peoples to deal with Zionists or to normalize with Zionists. So it is possible that we do not recognize, acknowledge, succumb and conclude agreements. Today we are not weak and unable. Let's then at least say – and here I am saying on your behalf and announcing as a part of this nation in the month of fasting and night-worship: O Allah have witness on us in Your Month, days and nights that we as part of this nation will not recognize Israel, deal with Israel, normalize with Israel, succumb to Israel and give in to Israel even if the whole world recognized it. Our faith, concept and media will remain: Israel has an illegal existence. It is a cancerous grand which must terminate to exist.
We are not committed to acknowledging, recognizing, normalizing or conceding to Israel even in the hard and harsh conditions. Since its foundation, Lebanon is living hard conditions. Its textile is complicated. Its circumstances are difficult and its capabilities are humble. Since 1978 and 1982 it has been suffering from wars, civil war, sectarian divisions and horizontal and vertical aligning. This Lebanon which has many problems and disorders did not concede to Israel officially or publicly. Until this very moment and for 61 years, Lebanon has not conceded one grain of soil or drop of water to Israel. We are not obliged even if the country is weak, the region is weak and Israel is powerful and the conditions are difficult. Yes, an orphan trial was made but aborted rapidly. It's May 17th Agreement. So if there is a country with a determined people, there will be no concessions. We don't want to fight and wage a regional war; but we will not as well concede our rights and we will carry on demanding our rights. We will not conclude agreements and give up. We might not wage a war for restoring Kfar Shouba and Shebaa Farms but will we leave them in the hands of Israelis? No we will carry on demanding them and talking about them. This is the least we can do, and we are all able to do it. Take also Syria. Some people always talk about opening fronts. Since 1967 and October War and for decades until our day, Syria did not open a front and so far it did not fight. This has its conditions which might be right or wrong. This is another story. But no one may ignore that Syria for thirty or forty years – whether under late President Hafez Assad or under President Bashar Assad currently and despite the siege, international sanctions, isolation, conspiracies and the most difficult conditions it has passed through especially in the latest years after the occupation of Iraq and all the changes that took place on the Arab, international and Islamic levels and all what Syria has been subject to – has not conceded one grain of its soil or one drop of its waters. Syria must be hailed for that. This must be recognized and esteemed highly. Well there is a regime in Syria and it is not like Hezbollah or the resistance movements in Palestine. These are movements and factions. No Syria has a regime, an army, a government, infrastructure, economy, relations and still it remained steadfast. It's true it did not fight and rather close a front but still it did not surrender. It did not give in and sell its lands and waters. We all know Geneva Summit which took place between President Hafez Assad and President Bill Clinton. We all know that. They were ready to give; still the whole settlement between Syria and the Israeli enemy was ceased due to a couple of water meter cubes in the Sea of Galilee. So that is possible even in case of an Arab regime and not a public resistance movement. This Arab regime which has economic, social and political responsibilities and international affairs could remain steadfast because it was relying on righteousness and law. So because it has a will, it could remain steadfast.
So, brothers and sisters, it is not that we are before two choices: either war or if not able to fight we succumb. No there is a third option which is to remain steadfast, oppose, resist and work to achieve power and capability and wait for changes. This is our proposal on Al Qods Day. Our choice is not to succumb. No we might remain steadfast and not succumb. We can oppose and work to achieve the elements of strength and power and await changes. This is a logical, rational and successful option. It has proved fruitful. When talking about the options we have today, we have the option of negotiations. After all these years, it was proved that negotiations are a fruitless track. That does not need much evidence and more concessions and right-wasting (at times for free). Whoever has anything else to say, let him show up and say it. Today Mr. George Mitchell has informed the Palestinians that he has failed to convince Netanyahu to temporarily freeze settlement building. This has two suppositions: the supposition of the American inability which says that Obama's administration is unable and weak and can't press Netanyahu and impose that on him. I do not believe that. If the US administration is weak, will you bet on the inability of the unable? If the great US administration can't impose on Netanyahu, according to this supposition, to freeze temporarily settlement building, how may it make a settlement in the region and give the least rights to the Palestinians and the Arabs. This is as far as the supposition of inability is concerned.
The second supposition is that of deception and this is what I say is the truth. I am not convinced that they are unable. Rather they are deceitful. They came to say that we pressed on Netanyahu and he did not respond. He is in a difficult situation. The extreme right will soon kill him as they killed Isaac Rabin. O Arabs we must offer a reasonable and acceptable price which would make Netanyahu accept a temporary freeze of settlement building. So let's go towards normalization and offer more fruitless concessions. This is the track of negotiations. There are other choices. There was another choice which was tackled in the last decades and the courtesies of our generation and the generation that preceded. It's the choice of announcing an Arab, comprehensive war. Let's open all fronts and mobilize all armies and break through Palestine from all its gates. This is a nice speech and a good choice. But it seems that who doesn't want to fight renders the stone heavy. So if we are to wait until the day on which all the Arab regimes get convinced in opening all fronts and dispatching all armies to liberate Palestine, we will have to wait for hundreds of years to come. God knows. Indeed this track of thinking had led to the loss of the resistance in many mazes. Many of the currents and movements which adopted the choice of fighting the Israeli enemy and confronting the Zionist project have been lost based on this theory (the strategy of changing the regimes). Thus the way to Al Qods came to pass through Junieh. That means we have to change the regime in this and that Arab country so that we would have regimes which all are convinced in war so that they would dispatch their armies. But what is taking place is that even when the regime changes and a new regime is installed, the new regime gives up fighting.
So let's put this choice aside. I am not saying it is totally hopeless. What I am saying is that it is not handy in the ten or twenty coming years. It doesn't seem it will be practical with ease. Here I am saying as others do: when you hear someone among us saying let's open all fronts to fight, he would be searching for a logical pretext not to fight. This is frankly speaking. When Lebanon was invaded by Israel, should the Lebanese people have waited for the Arab nations, a united Arab strategy and the Arab armies, Israel would have still been in Nabatiyeh, Bint Jbeil, Hasbaya, Jizzine, Tyr, Beirut, Junieh and would have also reached Zahle, Baalbeck, Hermel and Tripoli. This is where this way of thinking leads.
The other choice we are proposing and which I mentioned a while ago is opposing and remaining steadfast and having a public resistance. This does not need much interpretation because you are the people of resistance. In the history of the Zionist entity – for 61 years up to this very day- the hardest 10 years which Israel has passed through are the latest decade. This was the result of this choice. There are Arab and Islamic countries which are opposing and remaining steadfast. They are not succumbing. There is resistance in Lebanon. There is resistance in Palestine. What's the result? It was the withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon except for Kfar Shouba Heights, Shebaa Farms and Al Ghajar. That was a great achievement and victory to Lebanon and a historic massive defeat to Israel. We all know what strategic Israel experts have said following the defeat of 2000. In 2000 also was Al Aqsa Intifada in Occupied Palestine. It was the public uprising and armed resistance which truly shook the Israeli entity. It made the Israelis perplexed and lost. Anti-migration started taking place. They started saying in Israel that they are leading the Independence War II. So for the first time the Israelis feel there existence is being threatened due to Al Aqsa Intifada and the struggle and sacrifices offered by our Palestinian brethrens. Then came the withdrawal from Gaza and the defeat in Gaza. Then was July War in 2006 which shook essential bases in the entity's existence which has to do with its army and its morals, capacities and the confidence in it. So this is the choice I am talking about. I do not want to put forth theories on it. We are saying this choice is the true choice because it leads to such and such. Here I am saying to all Arabs and Muslims: this is a true choice not because it leads but because it has led. So experience and facts have shown the validity of this choice. We can restore our territories with resistance. The proof is that we restored it in Lebanon. The proof is that we restored it in Gaza. We can cripple all the aims of the enemy no matter how mighty he is. The proof is that we did so in July 2006 and our brethrens have done in Gaza War. So that is possible. Consequently, I am frankly saying. We do not need to open fronts. Some people have made theories of opening fronts. Well no we do not need to open fronts.
On Al Qods Day, I say the valid strategy is the following. Here I will announce the valid strategy:
Let's start with Lebanon. Guard the resistance in Lebanon. Well if you do not want to guard the resistance in Lebanon, it's up to you but at least "leave it alone". This speech is not addressed to the Lebanese. Most Lebanese back the resistance with no doubt and guard it. Experience has proved that. I mean some in Lebanon and some Arab states who have done what they have done in July War and have done what they have done before July War and after it.
Second: Support the Palestinian people. Keep your armies guarding your thrones. Blessed are they for you. Support the people and the resistance in Palestine. Help the Palestinians remain in their land. Lift the siege on them. Do not supply them with arms; let them pass arms. Do not fund them but do not block the way before those who are funding them. We can't be more humble. If you – the Arab states, the Arab nation and the Arab people – do not want to support them, don't then. Iran is supporting and openly now. Here is Ahmed Najjad. He doesn't fear anything. Here I am saying support the Palestinian people. Support the resistance in Palestine. Lift the siege on the Palestinian people. Muster the Palestinian lines. Make peace between them. Unite their word and stances. Do not conspire against them. Do not instigate one side against the other. Do not purchase arms to any side to kill the other. To Palestine the arms of ordeal and internal fighting pass; whereas the arms to fight the Zionists are being confiscated. Is not this the truth? Do not furnish the Israelis with information about the Palestinian resistance, its cells, arms, capabilities, tunnels, smuggling ways and its leaderships and their dwelling places… Leave them alone. As I said in July War when I told the Arab leaders to leave us alone, today I tell them leave the Palestinian People alone. Either you support them or leave them alone. Now we are fasting the days of the Month of Ramadan. If the siege was lifted from the Palestinian people which was also supported and backed, the Palestinian people have capacities, leaderships, men, women, youths, courage, faithfulness, patience, tolerance, will, determination and the spirit of struggling and martyrdom which enable them from restoring Al Aqsa Mosque to the whole nation. They are not in need for your armies and fronts and neither our front also. This is the scope of this choice.
Today some might say: O Sayyed! You are saying so but the conditions are difficult. And the conditions of the Arabs are harder and worse. This is true. This is the statue quo. But I would like to tell you that the circumstances in Israel now and in the future will be harder and worse. Israel before the defeat of 2000 is not like Israel after the defeat of 2000; Israel after the defeat of Gaza is not like Israel after the defeat of Gaza; and Israel after the defeat of July is not like Israel after the defeat of July. Today don't be that much afraid of Israel. Israel is training, arming and maneuvering day and night because it is afraid. It is wailing because it is frightened. Is there a way out? Yes, there is a way out. I will show you the way out. I have always tackled it in previous occasions. But today I want to clarify it a little more. Let's go back to history. We must read history and modern history too. There are many great states which if attacked remain steadfast, gain victory and put a decisive end to the battle. But at times if they dispatch their army outside the country land to another country, the army would be defeated and destroyed. Then the regime would fall and the state would collapse. Aren't there such evidences whether in history or in modern history? I will tell you about the way out. Support the Palestinian people. Enable them to be ready and strong. Don't let them be preoccupied with each other and with their livelihood, reconstructing their homes, prisoners and arrests and the like. Leave the resistance alone. One day the Israelis who are threatening – Yes I give in to the principle which is being tackled in Lebanon and which some political leadership in Lebanon are articulating. We can't deny that – might wage a war on Lebanon. We do not want this war. I am not talking strategically to say we want a war. No we do not want a war. Well in 1982, we did not want war either. Neither did the Palestinians who were then in Lebanon. The Israelis took as a pretext the assassination of the Israel ambassador in London to wage a war on Lebanon. They invaded Lebanon. I don't know what pretext they might take to wage a war on Lebanon, but many Lebanese and Arabs might find that threatening. Well with a sound will and a wise leadership, the threat might be turned to a chance. Here I am telling the Lebanese and the Arabs: We do not want a war. But in case Israel attacked Lebanon, we have to change the threat to a chance. What is this chance? It's what I hinted to before. They would dispatch 6 or 7 squads to fight us – i.e. more than half of the Israeli army would be outside the land of Palestine. If our resistance was ready and could destroy this half and perish, disperse and crush them, what future will remain for Israel in the region? When I say that the next war will change the landmarks of the region, many interpreted that saying the Sayyed has owned nuclear weapons! By God we do not possess nuclear weapons. In fact, it's prohibited that anyone possess or use nuclear weapons. What Imam Khamenai says is a religious rule and not political talk. Our jurisprudence says so. Owning and using such weapons are religiously prohibited. The landmarks of the region will change because Israel is a state which was made to an army. If we could destroy this army and we will destroy it God willing; if we could rush this army and we will crush it God willing; if we could perish this army and we will perish it in Lebanon God willing, what future will remain for Israel? Maybe on that day we did not need soldiers to reach Bint Jbeil. I remember in 2000 when the front posts fell in the border lines we did not need soldiers to reach Hasbaya, Bint Jbeil and Naqura. We reached there in buses, vans and cars. If the Israeli army was crushed in Lebanon, it is not unlikely that Allah would bless us to reach in busses and vans Al Aqsa Mosque. This is a logical, practical and methodical choice. It's not theorizing and raising banners and composing Arabic verse. These are facts and a truthful course of events for the past, present and the future.
On Al Qods Day, I call on all Arab and Islamic governments and on all Arab and Islamic peoples to adhere to the choice of opposing, remaining steadfast, supporting the resistance and refusing to succumb, give in, normalize and yield and to dispense with the feelings of weakness, inability, impotence, inferiority and lowness. We are – O people – "Ye are the best of people evolved for mankind". You are not the best in race, blood and origin but because we are the nation of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, jihad, good deeds and calling for the good and interests and rights of the people and humanity.
I call for seizing this choice. On Al Qods Day, I will recall some topics swiftly. First I recall Al Aqsa Mosque which is today being subject to threats. We all need to make a single call: O Al Qods! But alas, it's Al Qods which is today shouting: O nation! It's Al Aqsa Mosque which is now shouting: O nation! The Israelis are still excavating beneath it. This is not a rumor anymore. It's not the propaganda of the Palestinians which they report in the media to have the Islamic world sympathize with them. This has been confirmed in various ways including the acknowledgement of Israeli organizations. Excavating is taking place in full swing beneath the Mosque. Should the Israelis keep digging tunnels under the Mosque, we might wake up one day and the Al Aqsa Mosque has collapsed – God forbids. Who among Muslims might bear that? Who among their religious men, scholars, leaders, parties, men and women might tolerate that? What a nation is this and its first Kiblah, the midnight journey of their Great Prophet (pbuh) is threatened to collapse and cave in any time, any moment, any day? If the attempt of blazing a part of the Al Aqsa Mosque let – among its consequences – to the formation of the Islamic Conference Organization, doesn't what is more dangerous than blazing which is demolishing, destroying and caving in necessitate on the Islamic and Arab states to take a decisive clear stance in this perspective? Muslim scholars might convene and make a clear call on the Zionists saying that causing damage to the Mosque would lead to events and developments in the region which can't be expected at all. The reaction of the nation to what the Mosque might be subject to is outside the domestic, national and regional calculations. The Zionists must hear clear decisive words to stop digging tunnels which might lead to such a catastrophe.
The other topic has to do with the people of Al Qods: We are in the month of Ramadan. All through the Islamic nation, we are having our iftar in our house or at our parents' or relatives. Some are having iftar in halls, hotels and restaurants. But aren't many families in Al Qods having their iftar in the street because they were expelled from their homes unjustly?
Didn't this move those fasting? What is our fasting like if we are not moved with such scenes? Anyway, we must make haste to support the families of Al Qods to remain in Al Qods with money to purchase houses or construct their homes or whatever. True Al Qods Institution and our brethrens are taking close care of that; but anyway we can't play down this issue at all.
The third topic: Al Qods Day is the day of Palestinian and Arab prisoners. We have among them those missed including prisoner Yahya Skaff. Here I have something to say as far as the issue of prisoners is concerned. I have an emotional word to say. In fact, I mentioned this before but I will say it again.
If we roamed the Arab world at least asking: Do you know who Ron Arad is? Many will answer yes. He is an Israeli pilot who was missed in Lebanon in the eighties and the whole world is searching for him. Is that true or not? If now we asked who Shalit is? Many would know. But should we ask in these televised competitions which are made in the Months of Ramadan on Arab satellite channels or if we carried a poll in all Arab streets asking: Give the names of three Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons from among 8000 Palestinian prisoners? If the person we are asking is not Palestinian or whose relatives are not among the prisoners, I swear a few persons would be able to name three Palestinian prisoners. Is that true or not? Isn't this unfair? If we asked for the names of three Palestinian women or elderly or children in Israeli prisoners… that means we are all neglectful towards the Palestinians in the Arab and Islamic world. Who are they? What are their names? Why should the whole world know who Ron Arad is? Remember the two prisoners whom we were keeping. I did not memorize their names to vex them. Why should we memorize their names? Why should we forget our names and remember theirs? Why should the whole world know Arad and Shalit but not the names of Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian and Arab prisoners? Well now, you know why the name of Samir Al Qintar has become known worldwide? We kept prisoners for the sake of freeing Samir Al Qintar but we did not wage a war for him. So when you demand a prisoner and make an event out of that, his name would be known worldwide. So why are we numbers and they are names? When we talk about prisoners, they are names and we are nine, ten or eleven thousands. In graveyards, we are numbers and they are names and they are but a few foreigners and we are the nation of the billion and 400 million people. Isn't this but a shame to the headbands, cloaks, turbans, beards, crowns, armies and the medals on the shoulders of officers? Isn't this the truth?
Well who is doing anything for the sake of liberating these prisoners? The brethrens in Gaza arrested Shalit. The whole world was mobilized. We took two prisoners and tried to do something on the Palestinian level. They waged a war on us. Israel has the right to wage a war and it would be righteous in doing that according to the international community and many of the Arabs. But shame on you Hezbollah! How do you take two prisoners? And you Hamas too! How do you take Shalit as a prisoner? How do you assault the Israelis in this way? But as for the 10, 11 and 12 thousand prisoners including women, children and patients who have families and relatives, they are of no value. Isn't that painful? This is also an occasion to recall that we must do something in this perspective on the media, political, legal, social and public level whether it be pressure, war or fighting. I don't mean war but I mean there is responsibility towards that issue.
The Israelis are not able until now to settle the issue of Ron Arad though we gave them clear conclusions. True we did not give them a materialistic proof. Still I have to accept that hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian missed who were arrested on Israeli checkpoints have died. Their case is over. I have not to ask them any more and without offering a materialistic evidence. Why? Is Ron Arad a human being and the Lebanese, Palestinians and the four Iranian diplomats not. No this issue will remain an open cause on top of them is the cause of Yahya Skaff. His case will remain open. Our human beings are human beings. Our human beings are highly esteemed whether dead or alive. He is dignified. His soil is dignified. His land is dignified. We will not neglect this point for one moment.
Among the other issues is that of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Here I stress that our speech as Lebanese and Palestinians stresses on confirming the right to return. That's before talking about settlement and refusing settlement. We in Lebanon refuse settlement. All the Palestinian forces and people in Lebanon say they are against settlement. All the Lebanese say they are against settlement. There is a Lebanese consensus and a Palestinian consensus. There are fears that at any moment settlement will be refused. Should the settlement be imposed, it will be a conspiracy against the Palestinians before being a conspiracy against the Lebanese. It's a conspiracy against Palestine before being a conspiracy against Lebanon. Settlement will be at the expense of Palestine before being at the expense of Lebanon. Let's stress on the right to return. That's because if we talked about settlement alone, we fear there'll be a slip in the speech which might turn to be sectarian should it be a Muslim speech, a Christian speech or a sectarian speech. But there is a right. It's the right of those people to return to their homes, country, land and sanctities.
The second issue is the civil rights of the Palestinians in Lebanon. This is among the well-established aims of Al Qods Day. We will always recall it and stress it. We can in this issue think with precision and wisdom without sliding into the risks of settlement. But the current statue quo of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon must not carry on.
Thirdly is the topic of camps. Two days ago when it flooded, you saw what the situation in some camps including Burj Al Barajineh was. In fact, we are neighbors with the Palestinian brethrens. How do we accept as Lebanese that our guests – as we refer to the Palestinians – dwell in such camps and neighborhoods in such difficult and hard situations? Let's put the religion and Arabism aside and talk as human beings with feelings, emotions and values. This issue needs a serious addressing. We are not talking to raise the blame. We are talking about our responsibility as a civil national community. It's the responsibility of the official regime to cooperate altogether on this issue to see where we will reach.
We are not alone in this track. Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran gained victory, it was fought because it adopted the essential causes for the nation. We are calling on all people to examine carefully why the war was waged on Iran and why it was isolated and besieged. Why when Iran was with the Shah, most Arabs were with it. When Iran was the police of the Gulf, all the friends were with it… But then Iran cut its relations with Israel, cut off oil from Israel, the Israeli Embassy was turned to the Embassy of Palestine and adopted openly supporting the Palestinian people and the resistance movements. Imam Khomeini from the first day was clear. He said: Israel is a cancerous gland which must cease to exist. In his statements, President Ahmadi Najjad did not say anything new. He is reviving the speech of Imam Khomeini (May Allah glorify his soul). Here America and the whole West regarded Iran as a threat. Iran is a great support to the Palestinian people and the Arab peoples. Thus they imposed this siege, war, pressure and isolation. Now it is subject to this malformation by some Arab satellite channels and Arab governments. The true guilt of Iran is that it stands by the resistance and the peoples of the region and Palestine. Now let Iran say it dispensed with Lebanon, Syria and the Arabs, the whole world will be ready to hold talks with it because Iran is not a small country. It has oil, gas, coal, market among other primary materials. It's a great country. Historically it was as such. Iran is paying the price of its commitment to its principles. This must be known by all Lebanese, Arabs and Muslims.
During the recent developments, the whole world bet on the collapse of the regime. Indeed some did partake in the war against the regime from among the Arabs, Arab governments, Arab media and they failed as they failed during July War and Gaza War. We are proud of belonging to this axis which will not be defeated God willing. Iran hit the street today to say to the whole world which expected it to be confused, become weak, shake and collapse we are with Al Qods, Palestine, Lebanon and Gaza. We are with "Israel must cease to exist". We saw the people. We heard the clear speech of the President of the Iranian Republic and Friday Imam, the slogans raised in the demonstrations. I know Iran and its wise and brave leader. I know its leaderships, people and stances. Here I am telling you: Iran can't give up the peoples of the region and the resistance movements in the region. The Palestinian cause and Al Qods are to Iran, its head, leaders and peoples their prayers, fasting, night-worship, religion and Hereafter. Whoever bets on expelling Iran from the field and the square is deluded and doubtful. Today, I give my many thanks in the name of all resistance fighters, martyrs, prisoners and believers in the choice of resistance, steadfastness and opposition to His Eminence Ayatollah Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenai (May Allah prolong his life span) and the brethrens in the leadership of Iran and the Iranian people for all the moral, political, materialistic and financial support. This is a source of pride to Iran of which it must be proud worldwide and even before the international community and the Security Council. His Eminence Sayyed Khamenai was clear in Friday Prayers.
This nation is not alone. Lebanon is not alone. Syria is not alone. Palestine is not alone. The peoples of the region are not alone. Consequently we own many elements of strength. We have transcended the most dangerous stage which is that of George Bush. Today the Israelis are in a bad condition. The Israelis are in a bad condition in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Today we are hearing the story of the armored- rocket in Czech and Poland. These two states are an example to all those who bet on the Americans. Poor are they in Czech and Poland. They evoked a trouble with the Russians. Then the Americans abandoned them. Why did the Americans abandon the armored rocket. That's because they have a problem. They are weak and they have financial troubles. What's their pretext? They found out that the Iranian rockets do not pose a threat. How it is so? All of a sudden, they discovered that and changed their track which was to cause an international crisis and a world war. They said they have another way in dealing with rockets… So we have crossed the difficult stage.
Gaza is besieged. We in Lebanon, many Arab and Islamic states have given us money and capabilities. A great number of our houses were reconstructed. Reconstruction is at full swing but it's natural that it takes time. In Gaza, it has been almost a year since the aggression. They talked about billions of dollars in Sharm El Sheikh Conference. Where are the people of Gaza? They are still in camps and winter will in a couple of days. Will the homes made of clay stand in face of winter, war and aggressions? On Al Qods Day, we make a call, an appeal or a wish: Lift the siege from Gaza and help it. Pass to it cement, iron, raw materials and sanitary items. Help them build their homes. They don't want to build castles and great edifices. They want to take shelter from winter and protect themselves. Isn't this one of their responsibilities? Is this an Arab or Islamic world? We compose chants and anthems for our Prophet Mohamad (peace be upon him) in Arab satellites. Mohamad – the seal of Prophets – is telling us: "Whoever wakes up and sleeps again at night without considering the concerns of Muslims is not a Muslim." We are all heading towards Eid. But what is the feast like in Gaza? What is the feast like for the families of prisoners, for the Iraqis, Afghans, and Pakistanis…Well in far places we can't do anything, but here near us can't we do anything?
What's taking place in Yemen is sorrowful and painful. I do not want to interfere in the internal affairs of any Arab country. When some events took place in Beirut – this might have been reported in the media or not – President Ali Abdullah Saleh contacted us. Indeed I can't talk on the phone. He talked with one of the leaderships and said: Give my regards to Sayyed Hassan. He expressed his emotions. He is thanked for that. He was afraid of the events that took place on May 5th and May 7th. He said By God, I call upon you to avoid such and such. We said indeed we are responsible for the people. Inshallah we will accept this appeal. Today I can't talk with the Yemeni president on the phone. I don't care who is right and who is wrong and what the details are or the whole story is. But take the initiative and order a cease-fire and stop fighting and fraternal blood shedding and the exsanguinations of the people. Open the gate for a political solution. You are able to do that. You can take the initiative. I am tackling this issue because I feel responsible. I don't know the situation in the field. Who are interested in what is taking place: the Hittites or the Yemeni Army. Nobody contacted me or called upon me. I am not concerned with this issue but we are in the Month of Ramadan. After two days, it will be Eid. One day, O president, you made an appeal to us and we listened and honored you. It was our duty to do so. Today we are also appealing to you to order a cease-fire and stop blood shedding. Take the initiative. You are able to do that. Open the gate for political solution. Spare the lives of our people in Yemen.
In the Lebanese issue, everyone is occupied with his constitutional right. The Minister-designate practiced his right which he considers his right. The Opposition has practiced its rights. We went to naming. The Opposition did not name not as a result of weakness, inability or lack of men. The Opposition is able to name any personality from among the Sunni responsible leaders in Lebanon as a Premier according to our sectarian regime but it did not do that because doing so will cause tension for the premier whom the majority will name. We in the Opposition agreed not to name a premier. We see this as positive or else the Opposition and the parliamentary blocs were able to name any personality and charge him of forming a government even if the majority was to name another Premier. This might be seen as negative but it may be seen as positive. We said we are ready for dialogue and cooperation. What I want to say: let no one take the country to political tension or sectarian tension or factional tension, or security tension. There is no reason for that. We have all tried that. We will all lose. If we take the country to internal tension in allies and neighborhoods, we will all lose. Sectarian speech is a double-edged sword. Let no one resort to sectarian speech. Let the square be calm after the elections. After the feast, the president-designate will return peacefully God willing. He will sit with the parliamentary blocs and contact them. There is a legal and constitutional track. In Lebanon we have our democracy. Let's be quiet and have patience with each other to reach somewhere. To reach late is better than leading our country to destruction.
On Al Qods Day, I thank you for attending. You are fasting and tired. But this is but a show of your faithfulness to AlQods and the Imam. May Allah make us among those adhering to the firm righteous principles. May Allah bless us with you to pray in Al Aqsa Mosque in Al Qods. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessing.
Labels: al-Qods, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah, speech transcript
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