On December 28, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed a huge crowd from an undisclosed location via video link following the Israeli raids on Gaza that killed hundreds. The following is excerpts:

- It is pitiful that our Islamic year ends and we enter the Christian New Year while we are witnessing a tragedy in the Gaza Strip, which is under siege and oppressed, yet at the same time resistant and patient.

- We are before a great scene from the scenes of Karbala… The truth about Karbala is that there is a group that believes and holds on to its dignity, rights and honor of the nation, refusing to obey the oppressors… It stood up and resisted. Whenever it is put before two choices: surrender or imbalanced resistance, it chooses resistance.

- We as Lebanese can understand what is happening Gaza. It is the same as what happened here... The same choices are offered, the same battle and, hopefully, the same result.

- Today, allow me to talk about some issues in this confrontation. During the 2006 July War, I did not speak honestly. Now I will. The Palestinian situation is more difficult than ours at the time [of the July War].

- It is clear that there is an ongoing American-Israeli project in the region that wants to impose an unequal settlement on the rest of the Arabs, after Egypt and Jordan signed so-called peace treaties with Israel. Palestine, Lebanon and Syria remain, and the Americans and Zionists want to settle the issue according to their conditions. Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians should obey these conditions... They should surrender.

- Some Arab regimes are true partners in this project, especially those who signed so-called peace treaties with Israel. They are helping by all means to impose the conditions of surrender on the resistors of the American-Zionist project. The 2006 July War occurred under Arab approval, even at Arab request. The Israelis were clear, and no Arab can deny that, because the Zionists have documents that prove it. They told the Israelis to get rid of Hezbollah. They are doing the same thing in Gaza; they are asking the Israelis to destroy Hamas and the resistors. Their [Arab regimes’] support to Israel is even greater than the one they offered during the July War.

- The former [Lebanese] cabinet would not have dared to take its decisions on May 5, had it not been at the request of these Arab regimes… This is pitiful. They wanted domestic fighting in Lebanon, and now in Palestine, to create a claim to rid themselves of their responsibility toward Lebanon or Palestine.

- They [Arab regimes] are holding the victims responsible. We heard an Egyptian official holding the faction that violated the truce responsible for what is happening in Gaza. He means Hamas. Could he be an Arab official?

- I call on the people of the [Arab] nation to come out to the streets to force their governments to take action.

- Some Arab satellite [television networks] deserve to be called “Jewish” since they broadcast the news of the killing of 300 Palestinians in Gaza as if it were a car accident in India and insist on calling the victims “dead” rather than “martyrs.”

- The Egyptian people should go out to the streets and open the Rafah border crossing with their own bodies.

- We, as a nation, have a central goal that we should aim for during the current crisis: stopping the Zionist attack on Gaza and not allowing this attack to achieve any of its goals. Every nation should work toward this goal, not only the citizens of Gaza. The people should force their governments, which did not take action, to do so.

- We should go out to the streets to tell the government what to do.

- Egypt is only requested to finally open the border crossing for the living, not the dead. Egypt is not the Red Crescent to act toward Gaza in this way.

- Egypt should benefit from the attack and impose on the citizens of Gaza the peace conditions that some tried with us during the July War.

- I tell the Egyptian officials: If you do not open the border crossing, then you are party to the siege and the crime.

- Let the Egyptian population go out to the streets… will the Egyptian police arrest them all?

- I do not call for a revolution in Egypt.

- If the Rafah border crossing is opened, the victory that occurred in July will be repeated. If Gaza resists, the attack will stop because this enemy does not want a war and the attack will fall with the heads of those who prepared it.

- You, who want a general resolution with Israel, what did you gain except wars and conditions? …. What general and fair peace amid the Israeli conditions? No Jerusalem and no right to return, while we are being killed in Lebanon and in Palestine.

- Some said that the international community protects us: Where is it protecting Gaza?

- Some say that Arab and Islamic solidarity protects us: Where is Arab solidarity? The Arabs were unable to agree on holding a meeting for Gaza because of reservations from here and there.

- What protects us is the choice of resistance.

- Do we need a hundred massacres like that of Qana or Gaza to teach us this awareness? This enemy you are dealing with offers you a massacre every two years. It is a terrorist, criminal and racist enemy.

- We are confident that the citizens of Gaza are the citizens of the holy victory.

- Israel might take advantage of the current situation and launch an attack on Lebanon.

- Since the beginning of the Zionist attack on Gaza, Israeli officials have issued threats about another front, and they mean Lebanon. They took measures at the borders. There are two possibilities. The first one is it is only a defensive measure. The second is that the enemy, with Arab collaboration, the financial crisis and the transition period in the United States, might take advantage of the situation to launch an attack on Lebanon. They need it at an electoral level and to salvage the image of the Israeli army. I warn the Lebanese cabinet, army and population. Here, I ask about the rockets discovered before the attack.

- We are not concerned or afraid… We are ready to face any attack on our country.

- We are called to handle our historical and religious responsibilities regarding what is happening in Gaza. The results of what is happening in Gaza would not only be limited to [Gaza]. We should not say that some demonstrations here and there are enough.