Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah called for “the elimination of Israel” during an anti-Israel rally in Lebanon. Referring to Israel as a “cancerous tumor,” he insisted that its annihilation is “in the interest of the entire Islamic world.”

In a rare public address last Friday, 26 Menachem Av 5773, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for the elimination of Israel, describing the annihilation of the Jewish State as a priority for the global Islamic community.

“Some might think that the elimination of Israel is a Palestinian interest,” Nasrallah said during an anti-Israel rally in Lebanon. “Yes, it is a Palestinian interest but not just that. It is in the interest of the entire Islamic world, it is in the interest of the entire Arab world and it is also in the national interest for every country in the region.”

Nasrallah spoke during a large rally honoring International Quds Day, an annual event created by Iran to oppose Israel’s existence and its reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War. Hizbullah’s observance of the annual event highlights the group’s close ties to Iran, which provides it with significant funding and advanced weaponry to attack Israel.

Just last week, IDF Northern Commander Major-General Yair Golan warned of Iran’s growing support for Hizbullah terrorists on Israel’s northern border. “In Lebanon it is building a force with unprecedented involvement,” he said, adding that Iran is “more present than it ever has been, and very much on our borders.”

Nasrallah, one of the world’s most well-known terrorist leaders, fears assassination and rarely appears in public. Friday’s speech marked his first major speech since 2006, when he emerged from hiding to address the public after the Second Lebanon War.

“Israel is a cancerous tumor,” Nasrallah added. “The only solution when it comes to cancer is to eradicate it and not to surrender to it,” he continued.

“Israel poses a danger to all people of this region…including Lebanon, and removing it is a Lebanese national interest,” Nasrallah said, pledging to continue Hizbullah’s efforts to wipe Israel off the map. “We want to say to every enemy and every friend…we the Shiites of the world will not abandon Palestine, the Palestinian people or the sacred sites in Palestine.”

Since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Hizbullah has dramatically intensified its threats against Israel. During the past seven years, the terrorist organization has amassed over 60,000 rockets and missiles aimed at civilian areas in Israel. Hizbullah, which operates more than 1,000 terrorist bases in Southern Lebanon, can strike at any of Israel’s civilian centers.

Nasrallah, who is known for his extreme statements against Israel, has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel. Last month, he condemned the European Union’s unanimous decision to brand the organization as a terror group. In the same speech, he declared that Hizbullah would not be stopped in its mission to destroy Israel and establish an Islamist theocracy in Lebanon.

In 1999, Nasrallah famously declared that “there is no solution to the conflict in [the Middle East] without the disappearance of Israel.” In 2000, he stressed his opposition to “any reconciliation with Israel.” In 2004, while discussing Hizbullah’s attacks against Israel, he said “We are going to win, because [the Jews] love life and we love death.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem / IDF Spokesman)