The Israeli Defense Forces announced on Tuesday that its soldier who smashed a statue of Jesus in Lebanon — and another who photographed it — have been removed from combat duty and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Further, the IDF said that the statue has been replaced “in full coordination with the local community of Debel in southern Lebanon,” where the incident took place.
“The IDF expresses deep regret over the incident, and is working to ensure that it does not happen again in the future,” the Israelis said in a social media post.
A short while ago, in full coordination with the local community of Debel in southern Lebanon, the damaged statue was replaced by IDF troops. The Northern Command worked to coordinate the replacement of the statue from the moment it received the report of the incident.
The IDF…pic.twitter.com/nGh1s1iia1
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF)April 21, 2026
Debel is one of the villages near the border of Israel in which the IDF has been operating to root out Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
“The cross was part of a small shrine in the garden of a family living on the edge of the village, said Fadi Falfel, a priest in Debel,”Sky Newsreported.
In another statement posted to X, theIDFsaid its inquiry into the incident found that an “IDF soldier damaged a Christian religious symbol while another soldier photographed the act,” while “six additional soldiers were present at the scene and did not act to stop the incident or report it.”
“The inquiry determined that the soldiers’ conduct completely deviated from IDF orders and values,” the Israelis said.
Source: VidNews » Feed
