Thousands of Hizbullah supporters gathered in southern Beirut Monday in order to take part in a rally in the honor of the movement’s top military commander, Haj Imad Moghniyeh, assassinated in Damascus 40 days ago. Hizbullah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah called Moghniyeh the "leader of both victories," referring to the Israeli withdrawal from the South of Lebanon on 25 May, 2000 and the Israeli defeat in July 2006 war.
"Whoever killed "our martyr (Moghniyeh) should be punished, and would be punished. We would set the time, method and place for the punishment," Nasrallah said.
Speaking via satellite, Nasrallah told the crowd "we found in our enemy nothing but concern and fear of Moghniyeh's spirit, blood, revenge, way, and pledge. "We are celebrating 40 days to the death of the martyr commander. These are festive days for Muslims and Christians," he said.
In his speech, he claimed that people should be free to question the Holocaust. "Why is it that when it comes to the Zionists everyone is silent?" Nasrallah said. "When a great philosopher arrives and raises questions about the Holocaust, he is being judged. We condemn that."
Nasrallah added, "We see unprecedented Zionist and American infiltration of the media. They want to undermine our nation's consciousness. They want the end result to be our surrender."
The Shiite leader said that "the Zionist entity can be wiped out of existence," adding that "our nation is stronger now than ever before." "The Israelis would discover during any confrontation what a stupid act they committed by killing Moghniyeh," Nasrallah vowed.
"Zionist-American propaganda is aiming to harm our nation's consciousness. They, using their violent system, are trying to tell us that we are weak and powerless. They want to tell us that we don't have any hopes of winning," Nasrallah continued.
He argued that the victories presented by the Israeli occupation military are made bigger than they are in the "Israeli-American propaganda machine," that has been operating for 60 years (since the establishment of the state of Israel.) "The media has aggrandized this army and the Israeli soldier, officer and general," he said.
Hizbullah Secretary General stressed the fact that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 was a tremendous victory for Hezbollah, both on military and psychological terms. "There is a military political victory termed the withdrawal of the occupation army from southern Lebanon, but there is also an ideological victory in the battle of consciousness," he said.
Nasrallah added that the battle being waged by Israel utilizes not only logic and science, but also killing and terror. "The battle's end is nowhere on the horizon because Israel is smart and cannot be defeated," Nasrallah conveyed. "However," he added, "We too have waged a war of consciousness with the Zionists, both in our defensive and offensive actions. Today, your sons and Imad Moghniyeh and Jihad who fight in Palestine and Lebanon are creating a new Zionist consciousness."
