Nasrallah: No Cabinet without Hizbullah, EU Made Itself Responsible for Any Israeli Attack on Lebanon
The European Union's decision to blacklist Hizbullah's armed wing means it would share responsibility for any Israeli attack against Lebanon or the party, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday.
"These (European) states have made themselves fully responsible for any Israeli attack on Lebanon or Lebanon's resistance (Hizbullah) or any target of the resistance," Nasrallah said in a televised speech during an iftar banquet organized by the Women's Committee of the Islamic Resistance Support Association.
The statement is Nasrallah's first since an EU decision on Monday to blacklist Hizbullah's military wing as a terror group.
"These states need to know... that they are giving legal cover to Israel for any attack on Lebanon, because Israel can now claim to be fighting terrorism and to be bombing terrorist targets," he said.
The decision to blacklist Hizbullah's armed wing "gives Israel a service for free," Nasrallah added.
"This decision does not affect our willingness. Its objective is to make us bow, to force us to step back and to be afraid.
"But I tell you (Europeans): all you will get is failure and disappointment," said Nasrallah.
“The resistance gained people's confidence and credibility in the Arab and Islamic worlds through its sacrifices and steadfastness and through its achievements and victories, after managing to change the equations of the conflict, regaining the land, captives, dignity and sovereignty, and creating an advanced position for Lebanon in the region,” Nasrallah boasted.
He vowed that “this resistance will remain a stiff thorn in the eye of the Zionists and in the eye of anyone seeking to harm Lebanon.”
Nasrallah clarified that “the resistance was and is still a subject of Lebanese, Arab, regional and international interest, whether positive or negative interest. A positive interest from those who believe in the resistance, pin their hopes on it and consider it to be a source of pride, and negative interest from those who antagonize it and consider it a source of threat for their occupation and hegemony.”
“Because the resistance has all this presence and influence, it has always been targeted with the aim of eliminating and crushing it, and it is being targeted through all the security, political, military and cultural means,” he said.
Commenting on Israeli remarks, Nasrallah said “the Israelis clearly said that the decision was issued because of their 'diplomatic efforts' and the truth is that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu had insulted the Europeans.”
“All the proceedings prove that Israel and the U.S. exerted enormous pressure on the EU member states to take this decision and the thing does not need an analysis,” said Nasrallah.
“This decision is Israeli in form and content and it serves the interest of Israel,” he stressed.
Nasrallah noted that the discussions and proceedings of the European Union “indicate that Europe has surrendered to the American and Israeli will and that the 28 nations were not convinced of what they did, and the proof is that they had failed to reach a result whenever the issue was raised, as there is no evidence or proof or else the issue would not have taken years of indecisiveness.”
“Some EU member states considered the step to be illegal but they yielded to intimidation,” Nasrallah pointed out. “I did not feel for one moment that the European decision was sovereign as it was rather imposed on the Europeans,” he said.
“This stance is not consistent with their values or interests and it is clear that some party wanted to implicate the EU member states in a conflict that serves its interest, not those of the union,” Hizbullah's leader went on to say.
He wondered about the interest of the EU in “antagonizing a resistance movement that enjoys broad support in Lebanon and the Arab world.”
“Why haven't you designated Israel as a terrorist state although you acknowledge the Israel is occupying Arab land?” Nasrallah asked Europe.
“When a country contains resistance fighters who confronted and fought the occupation and suffered a lot of pains and wounds, and after thousands of them were put in prisons before they managed to give the land back to its people ... it is an insult when you tell them that they are terrorists,” he added.
“I tell everyone that this insult will not affect our morale,” Nasrallah said.
Addressing supporters he added: “To be insulted for defending your land and people, this is something of the consequences of this path.”
He stressed that “those who believe that the resistance which confronted the strongest army in the region for 33 days will be subjugated by this decision are either delusional or ignorant.”
Nasrallah called on EU member states to “correct their mistake because it will not lead to any result.”
Turning to the domestic Lebanese issues, Nasrallah said: “I tell the other camp in Lebanon that they won't be able to exploit the decision in their Lebanese political calculations or to isolate the party and form a cabinet without it.”
“A new cabinet must be formed in order to protect Lebanon from the storms,” Nasrallah added.
On Monday, the EU placed Hizbullah's military wing on its list of “terrorist organizations.”
In a statement, Hizbullah described the decision as a “hostile and unjust” step, saying it was “written by American hands and with Zionist ink.”
To get the required agreement of all 28 EU member states, European foreign ministers had to overcome reservations of some members that the move would further destabilize Lebanon, where Hizbullah plays a key role in politics.
Accordingly, EU political and economic ties with Lebanon will be fully maintained in a delicate balancing act.
Hizbullah's military wing was blamed for a deadly attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year.
In March, a self-confessed Hizbullah operative was also convicted in Cyprus of plotting a similar attack.
Lebanon had asked the EU not to blacklist Hizbullah on the grounds it was an "essential component of Lebanese society."
Support for the EU sanctions against Hizbullah grew in recent weeks after the party openly declared it was sending fighters to back the Syrian regime.
Source: Naharnet
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