Khaberni - The Israeli army announced today (Tuesday) that it detained two soldiers for 30 days and expelled them from military service for damaging a statue of Christ in southern Lebanon.
The decision came after a wave of condemnation of a video spread online, which the army confirmed as authentic, showing a soldier using a heavy hammer to strike the head of the crucified Christ statue that had fallen off its cross.
The statue is located in the Christian town of Debel in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel.
In the army's investigation summary, it stated that “the soldier who damaged the Christian symbol and the soldier who filmed the incident will be expelled from military service and will spend 30 days in military detention." It added that it summoned 6 other soldiers "who were present and neither prevented the incident nor reported it,” noting that they would undergo “clarification sessions.”
Israel took control of additional areas in southern Lebanon after “Hezbollah” fired rockets towards the Jewish state in support of Tehran.
The war resulted in more than 2400 deaths, and displacement of approximately one million on the Lebanese side. It also claimed the lives of 15 Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon and 3 civilians in Israel.
The army statement concluded that “the investigation found that the soldiers' behavior completely deviated from the orders and values of the Israeli army,” adding that “its operations in Lebanon are aimed only against the terrorist organization (Hezbollah) and other terrorist groups, and not against Lebanese civilians."
In a post on the platform “X,” the Israeli army stated that the damaged statue in Debel was replaced by the soldiers “in full coordination with the local community," and posted a picture of a new crucifixion statue of Jesus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday: “I was shocked and saddened to learn that a soldier from the Israeli army had damaged a Catholic religious symbol in southern Lebanon.” He vowed to take “strict disciplinary actions” against those involved, according to the French news agency.
