CrossFireArabia
A photo of an Israeli soldier desecrating a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon has sparked outrage amid a rise in Israeli violence targeting Christians in Lebanon and Palestine. The soldier was filmed placing a cigarette in the statue’s mouth.
The Israeli military claimed it launched an investigation into the attack which took place in the Christian village of Debel, and was captured in a photo that was shared on Wednesday, according to the Quds News Network.
The Israeli military said it had identified the soldier and that he would be disciplined.
The Israeli military added that although the picture was shared on Wednesday, it was taken some weeks ago in the village.
Debel is a Maronite Christian village. It is the same village where an Israeli soldier used a jackhammer to smash a statue of Jesus on a cross last month. That image sparked outrage online, including among some former allies of US President Donald Trump.
Also in Debel, recent footage has shown Israeli military excavators destroying solar panels.
Last week, a Catholic charity condemned Israel after its forces destroyed a convent in southern Lebanon, in what it said was a deliberate attack on a place of worship.
The French organisation L’Oeuvre d’Orient said Israeli troops demolished a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek Catholic religious order, in the village of Yaroun.
“L’Oeuvre d’Orient strongly condemns this deliberate act of destruction against a place of worship, as well as the systematic demolition of homes in southern Lebanon aimed at preventing the return of civilian populations,” the group said in a statement on Friday.
The charity said the attack forms part of a wider pattern of attacks on Christian heritage, noting that “Christian sanctuaries were also destroyed during the war in 2024, such as the Melkite churches in the villages of Yaroun and Derdghaya, both classified as part of Lebanon’s heritage”.
Israeli violence against Christians in Palestine has intensified, too.
Last week, a nun was assaulted by an Israeli settler in occupied Jerusalem, near the Cenacle on Mount Zion. The 48-year-old received medical treatment after sustaining facial injuries.
A recent report by the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue documented a sharp rise in attacks on Christians, describing a “continued and expanding pattern of intimidation and aggression”.
It recorded 155 incidents in 2025, including 61 physical assaults, 52 attacks on church property, 28 cases of harassment and 14 instances of vandalised signage. The report said the figures represent only the “tip of the iceberg”.
Israel has continued its attacks on Lebanon despite a ceasefire announced on 17 April to halt more than six weeks of its assault on Lebanon. Over 2,600 people have been killed and more than 8,000 wounded since the attack began on 2 March.
Israeli forces repeatedly targeted religious sites, including mosques and churches, during the genocide in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, settlers vandalised or attacked 45 mosques last year, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs.
