Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah made a speech in Beirut after Lebanese security forces arrested a third employee of state-owned mobile telecom firm Alfa on suspicion of espionage for Israel.

The following is the transcription of Nasrallah's speech:
Whatever the developments be, whatever the means be, to gather intelligence information, they cannot of course abandon human spying.
You eventually come to a situation where technology cannot solve everything, so the Israelis are in need of human espionage. Before the July 2006 war, the spies, who are being uncovered now, especially those who were spies before the July 2006 war, those people gave very important information to the Israeli enemy, and based upon this information, buildings were destroyed, houses were destroyed and bombarded and factories, centers and institutions, different areas, different places were bombed. Many were martyred and many were wounded.
What does this mean? This means that these spies, they are partners in the killings. They are partners in murder, in the crime, in the destruction. They are partners in forcing people to flee their homes. All the crimes, which were committed by the Zionist entity in July 2006, those spies have a role in it. They are partners in the crimes.
Now before the war, they gave information about places, about individuals, even about normal people, for example, who this house belongs to, who that shop belongs to, who does this underground shelter belong to, who does this institution belong to.
Details, detailed information were given to the Israelis. Everything related to the resistance and to the army, to the state, and to the telecommunications, everything, which was requested from these spies was given to the Israelis. And all the information they got was provided to the Israeli side. This is something, which nobody could argue against. We can say the spies hid some information and gave some other information. No, all the information they possessed was given to the Israelis.
Now during the war, in July 2006, those spies remained uncovered; of course some of the spies left the country, some were arrested, and some remained. Even during the war, they gave direct services to the enemy and based on these services, certain areas and certain buildings which were not decided, which were not part of the bank of targets for the Israelis, became part of the bank of targets.
And those people committed an even bigger crime, those spies who gave information during the war. Before the war, the spy might say I was given money and so I gave them this information. But some gave this information right in the midst of the war. When they were witnessing houses and buildings being destroyed. In the midst of all this, they gave the information to the enemy.
Of course, during the war as you know the Israelis exhausted the bank of targets. And because they didn't have any remaining targets they struck the same place, once twice and three times. Just for the sake of bombardment. And some of the houses and buildings were destroyed for no reason. Just because they felt they had to destroy some specific place.
Now, after the war, they wanted to re-new the bank of targets. So they re-invigorated these spy cells and spies and they continued with these steps. This is one area. There is another area in espionage, and many of these spies got involved in this area, many who have already been uncovered and of course many who have not been uncovered and are still practicing this specific type of espionage, and some have confessed to this.
The Israelis actually told them to create division. So, what I am trying to say is that certain spies were designated with a task creating internal divisions, internal tensions, and they were requested to for example bring about or create disagreements in the Amal movement and Hezbollah, creating divisions inside Lebanon.
Of course we overcame these problems a long time ago, but some years ago, a problem arose in one specific village, it turned out that a spy was behind it and at that time me and Parliament speaker Nabih Berri we were very sensitive. It was a small disagreement, but it ended up with arms being used. Usually sticks are used, normal handguns, machine guns, but in the end we saw RPG guns, missiles and heavy guns. It was discovered that a spy was behind this, a spy, who had now been arrested.
He (the spy) said he took these steps, he tried to make these divisions, because Israel told him to do so. These spies were told to create tension wherever they could, in the country, between Shia and Shia, Lebanese and Lebanese, Druze against Druze; conflicts between genders, conflicts especially between Sunni and Shia. So they (the spies) were designated and told to go ahead with such tasks and the resistance, was first and foremost targeted. The Resistance was targeted primarily.
The Israelis know very well that any internal instability and any internal conflict from the Israeli perspective, in reality as well, this is service to the enemy. It is beneficial to the enemy, regardless of the responsibility of any side inside Lebanon. Now the Israelis, who stand incapable, in the face of the resistance and its determination, its solidarity, its firmness and its readiness, what do these Israelis depend on now? They depend on another Israeli plan, which is the international tribunal for Rafik Hariri
They are preparing for this. They are preparing for a certain development. They are preparing for this in the next couple of months. Gabi Ashkenazi says we have to wait until September. In September, Lebanon will witness internal tensions. They are depending on such internal tensions. Israel always used to strive to create divisions inside Lebanon so Lebanese would be preoccupied with conflicts against one other, so the Lebanese would be preoccupied with conflicts with the Palestinians, so Palestinians would be preoccupied with conflicts within themselves. So, the Zionist entity and the Zionist project, remains safe, secure, living in a environment where people have turned against each other. This leaves the Zionist entity safe, living in an environment where everyone is crushed.
The spies used to play these roles, creating these divisions, turning people against one another. In the last few years, the number of spies in Lebanon notably increased. I do not want to talk about 2005 and after, 2005 and before, maybe, because we have discovered that we have spies that go back to 1996 or 1994.
But there is no doubt that the last five years, specifically, since 2004 and beyond, the number of spies increased noticeably. There are reasons behind this. We want to talk about the reasons to address this matter, to tackle this issue, not just to fill up time.
The first reason is that they felt safe, the spies felt safe and they feel that they are not being hunted down. They feel that nobody will arrest them, especially in the last couple of years.
How can someone be a spy for 16 years without being uncovered? Or 20 years. It means they feel safe by continuing for long years. It means they are safe, they are covering themselves well and nobody has them under suspicion. The fact that these spies feel safe, this increases the number of spies.
The second reason is the judicial process, the judiciary in Lebanon takes this issue lightly. The verdicts which were made before 2004 and which came after 2004, the verdicts against these spies (are to blame). Now, if some one becomes a spy and gives Israel information, and they give them USD 100,000 to build a house and own a company in Lebanon and in Austria and in Belgium, they go on holidays to Thailand and to Turkey etc. In the end, if they are uncovered they are arrested and put in prison, for one or two years. Is that a big problem? One or two years of jail?
Of course, there is a third element. Encouragement. When the judiciary takes this issue lightly, that also increases the number of spies. The third reason is the environment which encourages spying activities. This means, who will begin with those who find that there is no problem if their son or their husband or their teacher in university or their soldier or their army officer or their mayor or their journalist, has any relations with Israel? They say what is the problem if their colleague or son or husband has relations with Israel? They continue and strive to protect their spy. (They say) being a spy is not a big problem it is not a big crime. And they reach a level whereby spying is a point of view, it is an alternative, a choice we can make in our conflict with Israel.
And so they say have you had relations with Syria, yes others have relations with Israel. This is how some people view the situation. This environment of encouragement is one of the dangerous factors, which allows for the increasing number of spies.
And especially the environment, which sees Israel as a normal neighboring state, or views Israel as a future ally or an entity that can help them in difficult times. These reasons also need to be tackled.
(Source: Press TV)
Photo: Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah
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