Nasrallah: Money More Dangerous Than Weapons in Elections, Remarks Saying Hizbullah behind Orthodox Law Insult Christians

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday noted that electoral money can influence the outcome of parliamentary elections more than weapons, denying remarks accusing his party of being behind the electoral law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering, under which each sect would elects its representatives.

“Today, the most important topic in Lebanon is the elections and the electoral law. There is a barrage of insults and self-dissociation from debates is necessary," said Nasrallah in a televised speech marking the birthday of Prophet Mohammed.

“The issue of the elections is sensitive during this period and all Lebanese sects are approaching the electoral law in a sensitive manner due to the current sharp divisions and the events in the region also have an impact,” added Nasrallah.

He noted that “when Christians see what's happening in Iraq, Nigeria and other places, they have the right to be afraid,” adding that the developments in the region have further complicated the Lebanese situations.

Hizbullah's leader stressed that “all Lebanese concerns must be addressed and accusations must be put aside."

“I heard political leaders talking about the Orthodox Gathering proposal and saying that it is Hizbullah's proposal and this approach towards things is very malicious,” Nasrallah said.

“Remarks that the Orthodox Gathering proposal is Hizbullah's proposal are absurd and contain an insult against Bkirki and Christians,” he added.

Nasrallah pointed out that his party had voiced reservations when its allies suggested the Orthodox Gathering proposal.

“There are several options and proposals and things must be approached in a scientific manner and the main system we're looking for is proportional representation,” he announced.

“Proportional representation is the only system that ensures that everyone is represented in parliament,” added Nasrallah.

Hizbullah's secretary-general said his party will back “any proposal that endorses proportional representation.”

Commenting on the reservations of the rival March 14 camp over a law based on proportional representation, Nasrallah said: “The other camp is saying that the main problem is weapons and they are saying proportional representation cannot be adopted amid the presence of weapons and this is wrong, because the Resistance existed during the 1996 elections and weapons have never been used to impose electoral choices.”

“In which electorate was the influence of weapons employed? Weapons used to impose a certain electoral choice are not the weapons of the Resistance, because all parties have weapons,” Nasrallah noted.

“If weapons can influence the elections, their influence under a winner-takes-all system is greater than their influence under a proportional representation system and remarks about weapons are incorrect,” he went on to say.

“Weapons are not the problem because the more dangerous weapon is money,” he stressed.

“What is more dangerous: money or weapons? What is more dangerous: misleading and unfair media or weapons?" Nasrallah asked rhetorically.

He noted that Christian parties have concerns over political weight, calling on the Lebanese to discuss "a fair and just electoral law and to stop awaiting the outcome of the events in Syria, especially those who were awaiting certain changes to use them against others."

"All the military, regional and international developments indicate that the dreams of many parties will not come true" concerning the situation in Syria, added Nasrallah.

Turning to the events in the region, Nasrallah said it is not true that what's happening in the Arab region is a "sectarian conflict."

"Political objectives that have to do with power and domination were behind all the conflicts and wars that happened, which had nothing to do with religion or with Sunnis and Shiites," said Nasrallah, adding that "many current conflicts are political and have nothing to do with religions or with Islam and Christianity."

"We must keep any conflict away from sectarian incitement. We must be cautious and any sectarian rhetoric is a malicious rhetoric that destroys everything," said Nasrallah, calling for "accord, solutions and dialogue" in Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon.

Commenting on the outcome of Israel's legislative elections, which resulted in a virtual tie between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing party and the center-left, Nasrallah said "no one must bet on any party in Israel because the Israeli left and right are the same concerning the Arab rights."

Nasrallah stressed that "Lebanon's guarantee is the army-people-resistance equation and our national unity is what preserves Lebanon."

He added that "the most important response to the Israeli elections is the call for further adherence to the Resistance and to cooperate to keep the resistance strong in Palestine and Lebanon."

Timeline
  • 25 January 2013, 20:05

    Nasrallah on Roumieh's Islamist prisoners: When there is a righteous cause we must support it and it is not fair to leave prisoners in jail without a trial and this issue must be addressed.

  • 25 January 2013, 20:03

    Nasrallah: All the military, regional and international developments indicate that the dreams of many parties will not come true.

  • 25 January 2013, 20:02

    Nasrallah: I call on the Lebanese to discuss a fair and just electoral law and to stop awaiting the outcome of the events in Syria, especially those who were awaiting certain changes to use them against others.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:59

    Nasrallah: Today, Christians have concerns over political weight.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:58

    Nasrallah: I respect those rejecting proportional representation and understand their concerns.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:57

    Nasrallah: What is more dangerous: money or weapons? What is more dangerous: misleading and unfair media or weapons?

  • 25 January 2013, 19:56

    Nasrallah: Weapons are not the problem because the more dangerous weapon is money.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:55

    Nasrallah: If weapons can influence the elections, their influence under a winner-takes-all system is greater than their influence under a proportional representation system and remarks about weapons are incorrect.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:54

    Nasrallah: In which electorate was the influence of weapons employed? Weapons used to impose a certain electoral choice are not the weapons of the Resistance, because all parties have weapons.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:54

    Nasrallah: The other camp is saying that the main problem is weapons and they are saying proportional representation cannot be adopted amid the presence of weapons and this is wrong, because the Resistance existed during the 1996 elections and weapons have never been used to impose electoral choices.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:53

    Nasrallah: We are with any proposal that endorses proportional representation because it would give a chance to everyone to be represented in parliament.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:52

    Nasrallah: Proportional representation is the only system that ensures that everyone is represented in parliament.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:51

    Nasrallah: There are several options and proposals and things must be approached in a scientific manner and the main system we're looking for is proportional representation.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:49

    Nasrallah: We voiced reservations when they suggested the Orthodox Gathering proposal.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:48

    Nasrallah: Remarks that the Orthodox Gathering proposal is Hizbullah's proposal are absurd and contain an insult against Bkirki and Christians.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:47

    Nasrallah: I heard political leaders talking about the Orthodox Gathering proposal and saying that it is Hizbullah's proposal and this approach towards things is very malicious.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:46

    Nasrallah: All Lebanese concerns must be addressed and accusations must be put aside.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:45

    Nasrallah: When Christians see what's happening in Iraq, Nigeria and other places, they have the right to be afraid and the developments in the region have further complicated the Lebanese situations.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:44

    Nasrallah: The issue of the elections is sensitive during this period and all Lebanese sects are approaching the electoral law in a sensitive manner due to the current sharp divisions and the events in the region also have an impact.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:43

    Nasrallah: There is a barrage of insults and self-dissociation from debates is necessary.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:42

    Nasrallah: Today, the most important topic in Lebanon is the elections and the electoral law.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:41

    Nasrallah: The most important response to the Israeli elections is the call for further adherence to the Resistance and to cooperate to keep the resistance strong in Palestine and Lebanon.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:41

    Nasrallah: Lebanon's guarantee is the army-people-resistance equation and our national unity is what preserves Lebanon.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:40

    Nasrallah: No one must bet on any party in Israel because the Israeli left and right are the same concerning the Arab rights, Israeli ambitions and threats against the peoples of the region.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:38

    Nasrallah: The Israeli elections also witnessed steadiness in the influence of extremist religious parties and this complicates political administration and there is a crisis of confidence in the Israeli entity.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:37

    Nasrallah on Israel's elections: The founding parties of the entity, such as Labor and Likud, are weakening, amid the absence of a strong party and central leaderships.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:34

    Nasrallah: We must seek agreement, solutions and dialogue and this is what we call for in Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:33

    Nasrallah: We must be cautious and any sectarian rhetoric is a malicious rhetoric that destroys everything.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:32

    Nasrallah: We must keep any conflict away from sectarian incitement.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:31

    Nasrallah: Some current Arab regimes do not care about the Palestinian people or the Sunni communities and they have hundreds of billions of amassed money, but when they engage in a conflict with Iran, they turn it into a Shiite-Sunni conflict.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:29

    Nasrallah: Many current conflicts are political and have nothing to do with religions or with Islam and Christianity.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:28

    Nasrallah: The Gulf War is one of the most dangerous wars that happened in our region and it wasn't a religious war, but rather a war for power and control over oil.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:26

    Nasrallah: Political objectives that have to do with power and domination were behind all the conflicts and wars that happened, which had nothing to do with religion or with Sunnis and Shiites.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:25

    Nasrallah: The disaster is failing to deal with the crises that erupt and we must shoulder the responsibility concerning the current events.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:23

    Nasrallah: It is not true that what's happening in the Arab region is a sectarian conflict.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:19

    Nasrallah: We must express our anger, but it is also our duty to resort to positive action through introducing the world to our prophet -- this great extraordinary figure -- and his words and deeds and to clarify the misconceptions.

  • 25 January 2013, 19:17

    Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in televised address marking the birthday of Prophet Mohammed: We don't mind anyone debating us on Islam through arguments and wisdom, but no one accepts insults against anyone's religious beliefs.

Comments 48
Thumb phoenician 25 January 2013, 19:07

Neantherdal.

Missing realist 25 January 2013, 22:38

i think it is nasrala who is having a crisis of confidence seeing his suni rivals rising in the region.

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 26 January 2013, 00:11

shameful that you resort to such language. The man lost his young son fighting a brutal israeli occupation. I may disagree with his recent stances but he is deserving of some respects.

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 26 January 2013, 00:11

shameful that you resort to such language. The man lost his young son fighting a brutal israeli occupation. I may disagree with his recent stances but he is deserving of some respects.

Missing Cyanide 26 January 2013, 03:45

no flame. get your info right mate.. the hizb fighters were sneaking to Aaley and kidnapped the municipal police. thats when the druze hit back.. dont you make the druze look bad man.. u sectarian gronk. druze have hurt anyone that didnt hurt them. they only defend and never attack.

Missing mohammad_ca 26 January 2013, 09:05

"money more dangerous than weapons" this is even stupider than the NRA's claimes int he US that "guns don't kill people, people kill people".

Missing mohammad_ca 26 January 2013, 09:13

oh my God he wanted to PRAY that is SO sectarianist!

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:20

yes you are

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:22

and you are filthy zionist with no beard

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:29

the filthy zionist scum twist nasrallah words because he thinks he has a point to prove

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:29

the filthy zionist scum insult christian non zionist population in lebanon

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:36

the filthy zionist scum think that lebanese shouldn't care about how enemy behaves

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:36

the filthy zionist scum lebanese didn't vote on that

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:37

the filthy zionist scum think lebanese didn't vote on that

and didn't showed support on the street

but i guess mossad didn't tell you all that?

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:41

the filthy zionist scum think that nasrallah have to justify what is self evident

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:43

the filthy zionist scum is not happy by the amount of time nasrallah put in the speech on the topic of elections

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:43

the filthy zionist scum repeats itself and thinks he's on facebook

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:44

the filthy zionist scum want to incite sectarian strife in lebanon

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:44

the filthy zionist scum asks who is ferzli

what, mossad failed?

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:50

the filthy zionist does not understand what nasrallah meant by "We voiced reservations" and pretends he care about christians in baalback area.

Thumb jabalamel 26 January 2013, 19:52

the filthy zionist scum does not understand what scientific manner have to do with elections.

Missing peace 25 January 2013, 20:56

who cares about what he says? listen to one of his speeches you ve heard them all...

Thumb shab 25 January 2013, 21:50

Boring...really boring

Thumb lebanon_first 25 January 2013, 22:08

nice point.

Thumb lebanon_first 25 January 2013, 22:15

You are talking as if the christians are a weak species who are at risk. Well let me tell u, christians are not at risk and are not afraid. i think the chiites are more at risk than the christians. You are very smart to not even mention the chiite issue. The christians are moderate businessmen who want to build the state and do commerce, plus they are divided. It is very difficult to be against them. While the chiites, armed to the teeth, thanks to HA have been acting arrongantly for the past decade thanks to you. So I tell Chiite lebanese, dont be afraid, we will protect you internationally and locally when iran bankrupts and stops supporting HA.

Thumb lebanon_first 25 January 2013, 22:21

As for the self serving equation you keep on hammering us with, as if mentionning it over and over again would magically legitimate your weapons, it should read" people of lebanon, Army of Lebanon, Agenda of Ahmadinajad". The day resistance starts reporting to an ELECTED official, your formula will be valid. Right now, u are just a milicia softly controlling the state. Put your weapons under teh disposal of President Suleiman. I dare you.

Thumb LEBhasNOhope 25 January 2013, 23:04

outstanding point! could not agree more!

Missing realist 25 January 2013, 22:48

Hizbustan days of hegemony over the lebanon are numbered. Sadly it will not go down peacefuly and whether we like it or not violence will sooner or later come to lebanon from Syria. Lebanon will be divided into areas of influence, hizbustan would enjoy power in its own areas and will lose control over the state that will eventualy disappear as we know it anyway. Jumblatt who is shrewed and has been nice to the Syrian revolution would enjoy calm and peace in his mountain. The areas that would witness the violence would be the beka3 valley, (especialy after the hizzie 'mujahideen' has spared no effort of going to 7ums), North lebanon and eventualy Beirut where we might start seeing car bombings and so forth. I hope I am wrong and that sunis and she3as of lebanon manage to make the peace that would protect the country.

Missing samiam 25 January 2013, 23:24

I am just glad I don't take the time to listen to any lebanese politician--I have a feeling that all of them have enough hot air to influence global warming, but little else except for talk.

Actions speak louder than words--HA's actions have said that they are looking for any raison d'être for their weapons. Even if somehow Shabaa were liberated and a two state Palestinion solution somehow magically came into fruition, they would look for another reason to keep their arms.

Thumb andre.jabbour 25 January 2013, 23:38

Fif you notice how many red thumbs suddenly appeared all at once? I believe it's your friend flamed grilled with his robotic reflexes (a lot of aliases). No wonder when you consider that it's his way of making money, what a loser I may add. Don't you think?

Thumb andre.jabbour 25 January 2013, 23:50

He doesn't believe any oh the Nazi's BS, but approving and defending him is his only way to get a steak on his plate. Totally pathetic and quite sad, frankly...

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 26 January 2013, 00:03

The Ferzli law is NUTS. The government law can be classified as meeting democratic principles. But I have one question I wish Sayyed Nasrallh would answer. Let us suppose that an election happens based on these two laws and M14 wins. If the government moves to disarm all factions, will he storm Beirut again?

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 26 January 2013, 00:08

bigsami - Sayyed Nasrallah is neither a monkey or a Farsi. I may strongly disagree with his recent stances, but he is deserving of respect - not least for leading the liberation of south lebanon against a criminal occupation. Unfortunatelly, like many humans the Hizb cannot let go of the fact that the mission was indeed accomplished.

Thumb phoenician 26 January 2013, 00:16

Partition Blease.

Thumb beiruti 26 January 2013, 01:04

"Weapons? What weapons?" Said Hassan while armed to the teeth. The ultimate delusionist. He cites the 1996 elections as one where Hezbollah was armed but the arms made no difference? Does he not recall that the Syrian Army occupied Lebanon during the 1996 elections and dictated an election law that would guarantee a pro-Syrian outcome.
HA/FPM did not disrupt the 2010 elections because they were under the delusion that they would win, well they lost and then conducted a coup d'etat in January 2011 against the M14 governnment.
The shadow of May 2008 hangs over this election and if HA believes they may not win, control of parliament, don't be naive enough to think that their weapons will not be used, at least in a deterrent capacity.

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 26 January 2013, 01:05

I wonder who would I listen to? A person with a gun or a person with $100K?

Missing beirutbastard00 26 January 2013, 10:57

Both

Missing cedars 26 January 2013, 04:38

When the Hamah citizens revolted against Hafez Assad tens of yrs ago, and were hiding in the Mosque, the latter filled it with water and electrified them. Like father like son and unfortunately anyone who supports this regime is ruthless and cannot be trusted.

Missing cedars 26 January 2013, 04:55

Nasrallah on Roumieh's Islamist prisoners: When there is a righteous cause we must support it and it is not fair to leave prisoners in jail without a trial and this issue must be addressed.

How about the 300 Lebanese Army soldiers that died? what cause and how dare you tell them Nahr el Bared is a red line? or outlaws understand one another and stick for one another?

Missing cedars 26 January 2013, 04:58

Nasrallah: Lebanon's guarantee is the army-people-resistance equation and our national unity is what preserves Lebanon.

Simply No.
One Army = one Nation.

Thumb Chupachups 26 January 2013, 05:57

just wait for BS thrower to come say the opposite.

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 26 January 2013, 06:02

Please ... Why is he a mass murderer? Let us have some perspective here. Again I may be against hezb agenda in lebanon and syria but no-one of credibility have made such allegation.

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 26 January 2013, 06:03

You know the rat description was started by the israelis as part of their information war to belittle of the person of nasrallah. Good job for making their job easier.

Missing beirutbastard00 26 January 2013, 10:58

Ayatollahs... Mullahs are Sunni. When being kinda ignorant u should get ur vocab right.

Default-user-icon + oua nabka + (Guest) 26 January 2013, 11:19

the arms (silah )kills you physicaly once
mmoney kills you morally and your soul a thousand times a day

but as for people with no morals or soul they are no more human beeings there are monsters

Missing nickvegas 26 January 2013, 15:20

there is no thing called "people ,army,resistance" stratgey ,country its a system consist of organizations that provide services to the people and give them protection so they can return money to the country so i dont know why resistance should be in our system.Let say that it give protection and sort of benifits as HA says but it bring too much problems that over the limit that lebanease can afford. .

Thumb jabal10452 26 January 2013, 15:24

Nothing necessarily inflammatory in this speech. As far as The "army-people-resistance" argument that Hezbollah keeps trying to sell us, it is a holdover from the times of total Syrian domination, a time where syria needed something to keep pressure on Israel and to justify its continued occupation of Lebanon via the Shabaa sharade that popped up as soon as Israel left our country. Until Hezbollah put its military wing under the authority of the state, I will remain a staunch opponent of the party. Hezbollah must also change its stance and become receptive to an Israeli-Lebanese dialog that will lead to a just peace. Everyone wins from this except Iran whos raison d'etre seems to be the total annihilation of Israel.
I do appreciate calm approach regarding the electoral law controversy and I do appreciate him trying to see things from the Christian perspective. At the very least, what his is saying will not make the political situation in the country even more tense.

Default-user-icon Tony (Guest) 26 January 2013, 19:34

All of a sudden Nassrallah wants to be scientific in his democratic forays. If he looks at the surrounding lovely Arab States, he will notice that none of them is democratic nor built on any scientific method. They are all built on the idea that Islam is the religion of the State. No democracy there. Lebanon being the only Arab State that historically harbors Christians is not satisfactory to his excellency. Because only a Moslem can rule a Moslem. This is the democracy he is after. where non Moslems have no rights and are hunted down like pigeons. Go and see what is happening to the Christians of Irak, kurdistan, Egypt, Syria Iran etc. At least by having a Christian president in Lebanon, you know after 6 years he will leave. He will not play the Kaddafi or the Assad. There is no technique scientific or not, that Nasrallah will shy of using to get to his Wilayat Al Faqih. The Swiss Canton system is better and more scientific.