Nasrallah: We'll sacrifice our blood for Mohammed

In rare public appearance, Hezbollah chief tells tens of thousands in Beirut that release of whole anti-Islam film 'will have very grave consequences around the world'

Roi Kais|Last update: 09.17.12 , 23:32

Hezbollah's leader left his bunker and made a rare public appearance at a rally in Beirut denouncing an anti-Islam film that has provoked a week of unrest in Muslim countries worldwide.

Hassan Nasrallah does not usually appear in public for fear of assassination. He called for Monday's protests in Beirut, saying the US must be held accountable for the film because it was produced in America.

Nasrallah during Beirut rally

Speaking to a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters, he said "God's prophet, we will sacrifice ourselves, our blood, our families and our money for your honor.

"The world needs to understand our links to God's prophet ... It did not understand the level of the insult that God's prophet was subjected to through some of the clips of this insulting film," said Nasrallah, who has been living in hiding since Hezbollah's month-long war with Israel in 2006.

Nasrallah urged governments across the world to censor websites featuring clips from the amateurish film, produced in California, and urged Muslims to ban those sites.

"America, which uses the pretext of freedom of expression ... needs to understand that putting out the whole film will have very grave consequences around the world," the leader of the Shiite group warned.

מחאה באינדונזיה, המדינה המוסלמית הגדולה ביותר (צילום: AP)

Riots in Indonesia (Photo: AP)

He predicted that the wave of protests against the film "will not be a passing outburst but the start of a serious movement that will continue on the level of the Muslim nation to defend the prophet of God."

"What happened stresses the Muslims' need to unite, even if they disagree on occasion," he told the terror group's supporters, who chanted "Death to America, Death to Israel" while marching through Beirut's Shiite southern suburbs in protest against the film.

On Sunday Nasrallah urged nationwide protests in Lebanon against the film "Muslim Innocence." He warned that the film represented "an unprecedented insult to the followers of the Prophet Mohammed and blamed the "Zionist and American regimes" for perpetrating a derision "worse than all previous offenses against Islam, the Koran and the messenger of Allah."

In a televised speech, Nasrallah added "I think this is a major, very dangerous and unprecedented insult to Muslims."

Monday's demonstration in Beirut was organized by Hezbollah and the Shiite Amal movement. Protesters held signs reading, "America, the great Satan" and "Muslims unite!"

Also on Monday, hundreds of Palestinians protested in Ramallah protested against the anti-Islam film. Participants of the sit-in, organized by the Palestinian Authority's Waqf (religious endowment) and held outside its offices, held signs saying "We are against those who oppose you Mohammed" and "Do not touch our prophet."

Additional, more violent demonstrations were held in Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, the family of a filmmaker linked to the anti-Islamic movie left its California home in the middle of the night.

A spokesman with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Nakoula Basseley Nakoula's relatives left their Cerritos home about 3:45 am Monday. Deputies gave them a ride and they were reunited with Nakoula, then taken to an undisclosed location.

Nakoula wore heavy apparel to disguise his appearance when he left his home over the weekend. He was interviewed by federal probation officers, who are reviewing a 2010 case in which he was convicted of bank fraud.

Federal authorities have identified Nakoula as the key figure behind "Innocence of Muslims," the film denigrating Islam that ignited violence against US embassies in the Middle East.