The military sentences handed down Monday spotlight the latest episode of alleged anti-Christian behavior by Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon. A photo that circulated widely online showed a soldier, a cigarette in his own mouth, placing a cigarette into the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Another soldier photographed the scene. After the images sparked condemnation from Christian leaders, foreign governments and Israeli politicians, the Israeli military announced that the soldier who posed would spend 21 days in military prison and the soldier who took the photograph would serve 14.
Military spokesperson Lt. Col. Ariella Mazor issued a statement via the social media platform X, saying the military “views the incident with great severity and respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as holy sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities.”
The episode follows a similar transgression just days earlier, when images surfaced of an Israeli soldier swinging an ax at a fallen statue of Jesus on the cross in the southern Lebanese village of Debel. That act also drew sharp rebukes and resulted in prison terms for the soldiers who participated, the military said.
The incidents occurred against the backdrop of a ground invasion that Israel launched earlier this year to root out Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. The campaign began on March 2 after the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group fired missiles across the border, two days after the United States and Israel initiated their war with Iran. Despite a weekslong truce, Israeli forces remain in the area.
Also Monday, the military reported that a soldier working as a driver was killed in combat near the border, bringing to 18 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon since the Iran war began.
Israel maintains that it only targets buildings used as Hezbollah outposts. But the scale of the destruction has left Lebanese officials and residents worried that the large numbers of people displaced by the latest war will have nowhere to return even if the fragile ceasefire endures.