Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's Quds Day 2020 speech to begin shortly

1-Nasrallah speech begins

2-Nasrallah: We meet today on Quds Day, declared by Khomeini in 1979 after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran

3-Nasrallah: We have the memory of the Nakba in May, in 1948, which led to the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in Palestine, which led to the establishment of this virus of an entity, this bacteria, this cancerous tumor amidst our umma [i.e. Israel]

4-Nasrallah: We also commemorate the Day of Resistance (May 25, 2000) which paved the way for further victories against Israel, including inside occupied Palestine

5-Nasrallah: My speech today will be divided into 2 parts 1) talking about certain permanent principles regarding this matter, and 2) a strategic reassessment of the past year vis-a-vis the Israeli enemy

6-Nasrallah: When Khomeini declared Quds Day, it was a culmination point of his personal struggle against Israel, which he began addressing in the 1960s in the holy city of Qom

7-Nasrallah: It was part of Khomeini's fight against the Shah - who was subservient to the Americans, and had peace with Israel, and with strong ties to the Gulf States

8-Nasrallah: Khomeini was restating the position of religious authorities in Najaf and Qom regarding Palestine - and this remains a consistent position until the present

9-Nasrallah: This position is that Palestine from the river to the sea must be liberated, Israel has no legitimacy to exist at all and must be destroyed.

10-Nasrallah: We don't want to throw anyone into the sea. Those who came on ships and planes must be returned to their countries, and then there will be peace. This position will not be changed.

11-Nasrallah: We have been raised to believe in this position from our childhood to the present. This was the position of Lebanese clerics in the 40s and 50s, including Musa al-Sadr. After him Ayatollahs Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah and Shamseddine.

12-Nasrallah: Our position regarding the issue of Palestine, the holy places there, the Palestinian people, and the usurper entity there is a religious and ideological position, and therefore we cannot compromise or negotiate on it

13-Nasrallah: We are talking about a position that is part of our identity, just like our prayers, and fasting during Ramadan

14-Nasrallah: Therefore, anyone who thinks they can change this position through sanctions or pressure, etc. is mistaken and must despair of their attempts to do so

15-Nasrallah: This is not a political position. It's not a hardline position we are adopting to gain any political or other concessions that we'll compromise upon when we gain those concessions. This is an uncompromising ideological position.

16-Nasrallah: Theft does not become legitimized with time, so it doesn't matter how much time will pass, or if the entire world recognizes the legitimacy of this theft with time.

17-Nasrallah: People asked me about this position about the 2006 war. I told them if you had a house and someone stole it, would the passage of decades make it less yours? Would you be willing to compromise with him even if others did? My interlocutors said "no."

18-Nasrallah: I said this was the issue of Palestine, which was stolen through destruction and massacres, and that the passage of decades will not make this legitimate.

19-Nasrallah: No one has right to compromise on Palestine or its holy sites, either with the Zionists or anyone else. Because Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people, not just current generation, but future Palestinian generations, and no one can compromise on their behalf.

20-Nasrallah: Reclaiming Palestine is foremost Palestinian responsibility. But it is also the responsibility of our Umma, and God will call us to account about what we did to try to reclaim Palestine, and what we did to confront this Entity and Occupation.

21-Nasrallah: Resistance alone - through all its means - is the only way to reclaim this land. All other paths are not feasible, as we saw with Israeli-Palestinian-American negotiations, which led nowhere.

22-Nasrallah: Battles of liberation take a very long time. The length of this battle - which could take hundreds of years and generations - must not lead to despair.

23-Nasrallah: If this current generation feels incapable of liberating Palestine through resistance, then at the very least they must exercise "negative resistance" by not recognizing or legitimizing Israel's existence in any way, and leave it to next generation

24-Nasrallah: Next generation might have better capabilities, better international or regional conditions, to attain victory. There is therefore no excuse for compromise, etc.

25-Nasrallah: defeating occupation forces is also attrition process -like in Vietnam, South Lebanon, Gaza Strip. These are modern examples. Israel was forced out of Lebanon and Gaza through attrition. They were bled slowly until their leaders decided they could no longer remain

26-Nasrallah: Internal chaos in the central country of an empire could also lead to the withdrawal of forces. Social collapse in Rome, for example, forced it to withdraw its imperial armies.

27-Nasrallah: Both things can happen - attrition through resistance and social collapse. Both things can happen regarding Israel - ceaseless attrition through resistance, and social disruption reaching all the way to the top of the pyramid

28-Nasrallah: this can also reach the protector of Israel, the United States. This could take time, but it will happen.

29-Nasrallah: We must also understand who we are fighting. Immediately, it is with Israel. But, if we take a deeper look, our real fight was and is with the United States. Israel is just a forward base of the United States.

30-Nasrallah: Some people accept this. Those who don't must reassess their position, or they accept it and won't do anything about it.

31-Nasrallah: The United States backs Israel in every way, in ways that it doesn't back any other ally. They give pennies to Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan, but massive aid to Israel. Joint training w/IDF, and deploying all US diplomatic prestige to back, legitimize Israel

32-Nasrallah: In Lebanon, the US would veto even the condemnation of Israel's occupation of south Lebanon or its massacres, including the Qana massacre

33-Nasrallah: The US deploys its entire diplomatic weight to legitimize Israel. It goes to leaders and says, "if you want to become or remain a leader, you must offer something to Israel."

34-Nasrallah: Israel is the door to good relations with Israel. The United States has made it this way. Just look at Sudan - it wants good relations w/the U.S.? Then they need to go meet w/Netanyahu.

35-Nasrallah: Netanyahu claims his political and diplomatic savvy has expanded and improved Israel's international relations. This is nonsense. It wouldn't happen without the United States.

36-Nasrallah: Therefore, the real battle is with the U.S. government, not with this entity (waves hand dismissively). America wages wars in the region to further establish Israel - including Saddam's war against Iran, war in Yemen

37-Nasrallah: All the wars in the region, the U.S. is causing them to strengthen Israel's position due to all of the victories of the Resistance in the region

38-Nasrallah: I'm not saying this to make our battle seem more difficult, but to properly diagnose our battle. It's not against Israel, the regional power, but the U.S. , the great power.

39-Nasrallah: This allows us to properly assess our accomplishments and victories, and the road that remains ahead.

40-Nasrallah: What we've seen from Deal of Century is that Israel is heading towards the annexation of all Arab lands under its control - including Syrian and Lebanese lands - and all they'll give the Palestinians is limited self-rule

41-Nasrallah: The Palestinians must understand this when deciding how to act moving forward

42-Nasrallah: Now, there are Arab countries that have withdrawn from the struggle for Palestine for various reasons, but are neutral. There are other Arab countries that have moved towards indirect alliance w/Israel

43-Nasrallah: They do this through various ways, including criminalizing Palestinian and other resistance movements, and dealing w/Palestinians negatively and harshly

44-Nasrallah: A few countries remain at the forefront of confrontation, including Iran and Syria. Several popular forces - in Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Lebanon - and popular sentiment throughout the Arab world continue to support Palestine.

45-Nasrallah: This is what we call the "Resistance Axis" which is confronting the American Axis. There are several Arab countries that are aiding this American-Israeli axis, as they have in Syria and elsewhere.

46-Nasrallah: I will assess the developments of the battle between the Resistance Axis and the American Axis. Palestine is the end-goal, so I will discuss that last.

47-Nasrallah: Let me start with Iran, which America considers the central pillar of the Resistance Axis. The U.S. has been trying to collapse the Islamic Republic and cause regime change. Trump therefore first withdrew from the JCPOA

48-Nasrallah: He expected the JCPOA withdrawal/sanctions would lead to political fissures in Iran, popular revolts. Bolton thought he'd celebrate that Christmas in Tehran, but here we are in 2020 - Bolton is at home, and Tehran remains the Islamic Republic's capital

49-Nasrallah: Israel bet heavily on the success of this American strategy

50-Nasrallah: The credit for this failure goes to Iran's steadfastness and determination. Any other country would have caved.

51-Nasrallah: The Israelis were also betting on an American war on Iran. Netayahu bet heavily on this

52-Nasrallah: This also failed. The Israelis got their hopes up after Soleimani, Al-Muhandis killing, especially after Ain al-Assad retaliatory strike. Which U.S. still hiding its casualties. The other day something came out of the Pentagon discussing dead and wounded.

53-Nasrallah: But this didn't happen. Netanyahu was disappointed and Trump didn't go to war, due to Iran's strength.

54-Nasrallah: Then Israelis bet on terrorist groups in Iran and elsewhere, and this didn't succeed.

55-Nasrallah: Finally, Israelis bet on COVID-19 to collapse Iran. But as Khamenei has said, Iran has passed this difficult stage as well. Iran's healthcare system is excellent, meanwhile U.S. is suffering from COVID and we've yet to see impact of COVID-19 on the Zionist Entity.

56-Nasrallah: Lastly, there are sanctions, but these have also failed. Iran remains strong, steadfast, and unyielding.

57-Nasrallah: Therefore, reassessing the last year, America and Israel have failed, and Iran remains strong.

58-Nasrallah: Now, I will discuss Iraq, where a great change has occurred in favor of the Resistance Axis.

59-Nasrallah: The Israelis were the greatest cheerleaders for occupying Iraq, destroying the Iraqi army, etc.

60-Nasrallah: I'm not talking ancient history, but in the era of George W. Bush, the Zionist lobby, the Jewish lobby, was pressing for Iraq's destruction

61-Nasrallah: Then the Israelis and the United States began betting on the takfiri groups. And I want to remind you that @realDonaldTrump has said ISIS is an American creation, a creation of Obama and Clinton.

62-Nasrallah: The Americans and Israelis stoked sectarian war in Iraq and the region, but that has also failed.

63-Nasrallah: Now our brothers in Iraq will surely push Iraq to its proper place, which is among the Resistance Axis

64-Nasrallah: in Syria, a country which has long been a pivotal part of the Resistance Axis, the American-Israeli project has also failed, and now Syria is on the path to recovery.

65-Nasrallah: The Israeli bet on the security belt in southern Syria has also failed.

66-Nasrallah: Now the focus is on exploiting opportunities to prevent the SAA from regaining its deterrent posture and strength, particularly in regards to missiles; pushing Iran out of Syria; and stoking the Kurdish issue

67-Nasrallah: This is also a failure. There were those betting a new Syrian government would come to power on the back of an American tank, a gov't that would at least loan out the Golan Heights to Israel for 99 years subject to renewal. This didn't happen.

68-Nasrallah: What remains for the Americans in Syria are sanctions, including the Caesar Bill.

69-Nasrallah: Now, we turn to Yemen, where the goal was to prevent the rise of the power of resistance in Yemen - which was the desire of the Yemeni people.

70-Nasrallah: We all know the importance of Yemen in the fight against Israel. Yemen is strategically located, on the Red Sea, etc. Now, America and Israel are backing the war against Yemen.

71-Nasrallah: They didn't want a resistance force to arise in Yemen, but the opposite happened. Yemen now has huge military capabilities - ballistic missiles, defense works, and the manpower to conquer large swathes of territory.

72-Nasrallah: Now, the Americans and the Israelis are helpless to do anything about this, and the Israelis are worried.

73-Nasrallah: The failure in Yemen also has implications on the Deal of the Century, which rested on MBS. Had he won in Yemen, he would have been crowned the "Arab Knight" and could have imposed the Deal on the Palestinians.

74-Nasrallah: I will talk about Lebanon briefly today, and address it further on May 25. Israel is deterred in Lebanon, calculates its moves carefully because it is fearful of Resistance response.

75-Nasrallah: Some will say this deterrence is on both sides. That's fine, because in the past the Israelis alone had the upper hand.

76-Nasrallah: The Israelis have also failed to prevent the development/improvement of Hezbollah's military capabilities through their airstrikes.

77-Nasrallah: The Israelis are now still betting on Hezbollah's base turning against it. They were betting on this in the last elections, and this failed. Now, they are turning to sanctions to accomplish this.

78-Nasrallah: American pressure to get the Lebanese to disarm the resistance is only the first step. Later it will be demarcating the maritime border and resolving the disputed land border points in Israel's favor. But there will be no end to Lebanese concessions to Israel