Outrage after photo shows Israeli soldier smashing Jesus statue in Lebanon | Israel attacks Lebanon News
Social media customers condemn Western silence on attacks on spiritual symbols and websites by Israeli troopers and settlers.
Published On 19 Apr 2026
A viral {photograph} displaying an Israeli soldier hitting a statue of Jesus Christ in southern Lebanon with a sledgehammer has sparked outrage.
In a press release on Monday, the Israeli navy confirmed the authenticity of the picture that was broadly shared on-line, garnering greater than 5 million views on X.
It stated that following an preliminary overview, it was decided that the {photograph} confirmed an Israeli soldier “operating in southern Lebanon”, the place Israel final month launched a floor invasion in conjunction with aerial bombardment amid its joint war with the United States on Iran.
The navy acknowledged that an investigation had been opened and that “appropriate measures will be taken against those involved in accordance with the findings.”
Commenting on social media, Ayman Odeh, a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament, wrote pointedly: “We’ll wait to hear the police spokesperson claim that ‘the soldier felt threatened by Jesus’.”
Ahmad Tibi, one other Palestinian member of the Knesset, wrote on Facebook that those that blow up mosques and church buildings in Gaza and spit on Christian clergy in Jerusalem with out punishment should not afraid to destroy a statue of Jesus Christ and publish it.
“Perhaps these racists have also learned from Donald Trump to insult Jesus Christ and insult Pope Leo?” he requested, referring to the US president’s current controversies, together with his now-deleted AI-generated image that portrayed him as a Jesus-like determine and his feud with the top of the Roman Catholic Church, who has criticized the conflict on Iran.
Several activists, lecturers and writers additionally criticized the desecration of the statue, which was situated on the outskirts of the village of Debl in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel.
Social media customers additionally condemned the worldwide silence following attacks by Israeli troopers and settlers towards spiritual websites and symbols.
“When the Western world remains silent, racists go further,” stated Tibi.
Israeli forces repeatedly attacked spiritual websites, together with mosques and church buildings, throughout Israel’s genocidal conflict on Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, in the meantime, settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques final yr, in response to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Separately, the Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC) documented not less than 201 incidents of violence towards Christians, primarily dedicated by Orthodox Jews focusing on worldwide clergy or people displaying Christian symbols, between January 2024 and September 2025.
The majority of those incidents, which included a number of types of harassment, together with spitting, verbal abuse, vandalism and assaults, happened in Jerusalem’s Old City, situated in occupied East Jerusalem.
