Listen

Yesterday I was passing through the student center, and the television happened to be turned on CNN.
I didn’t stop. I walked by.
“Hezbollah are clearly in breach of international law here, Anderson.”
“Kiss Ekhtak”
Who just shouted? There’s no one else around. It was me.
I am glad I don’t have cable in my apartment.

Visions of Iraq.
Visions of Palestine.

Listen.
We’re not stupid.
Hezbollah doesn’t get its weapons supplies from Jounieh port. Or from Beirut international airport. Or from Batroun.
The 20 dead in Marwahin were not hit by mistake yesterday. Nor were the victims of today.
They’re not massacring us to pressure the government to act. They know the government is powerless. They’re not stupid either.

This is not about two soldiers. It was planned long before.

They’re punishing us. They’re collectively punishing us for not bending over like so many stronger people have done before. They’re punishing us for resisting them, for saying no, for standing up. They’re punishing us for kicking them out in 2000.

They want to break us. They want us to beg them for mercy; they want us to turn against each other.

Listen.

Hezbollah did not murder 116 Lebanese civilians. Israel did.
Hezbollah did not destroy Haret Hreik. Israel did.
Hezbollah did not cut us from the rest of the world. Israel did.
Wake up. Forget that Hezbollah are Shias. We’re all targeted.

This is what Israel is saying: “Look, you can’t resist. We know we occupy your land and breach your sovereignty whenever it pleases us. We know we illegally operate in your country, assassinate people, and kidnap fishermen, and murder entire families “by mistake”. We don’t give a fuck. We’re much, much stronger than you. You can’t exercise your legal right to resist our injustice. If you dare resist, we’ll break you. You have to shut the fuck up and live by our own terms. You have to disarm your own resistance, and ensure our own security.”

Listen.

You can’t destroy a resistance. As long as there’s injustice, there will be a resistance. It’s not going away. You can shell us for ten years, it’s not going away.

Everybody’s against us. Nobody will help.
The sky is raining death.
We can’t do anything about it; it’s not the first time.

Listen.

Don’t believe appearances, we’re a strong people.
You blow up airports, ports, buildings, and infrastructure. It hurts, but we’ll build them again. We’ll move on.
You kill many of us. It’s atrocious, it’s unbearable. We’ll never forget them, and we’ll never forget what you’ve done. And we’ll move on.

You’ll give up first. And you’ll negotiate. And you won't have accomplished anything. Except a lot of killing and destruction. Except making us hate you more.

Long live Lebanon.