Israeli soldier desecrates crucifix in southern Lebanese village

A soldier from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on April 19 desecrated a statue of Jesus, located in a family’s personal backyard shrine, in a small Lebanese village. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack.

Reuters reported April 20 that Netanyahu said the soldier’s actions went against the Jewish value of tolerance and wrote on X, "I was stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier ​damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon. I condemn the act in the strongest terms.”

The IDF also announced that it is investigating the incident.

"The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) views ​the incident with great severity ​and emphasises that ⁠the soldier's conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops," the military said. "The IDF is working to assist the community in restoring the statue ​to its place."

The statue was located in Debel, one of the few villages where residents have remained since Israel on March 2 began a military campaign against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, expressed his “profound indignation [and] unreserved condemnation of the desecration of a representation of Jesus Crucified by an Israeli soldier in a Lebanese village” on April 20, according to an X post from Catholic journalist Michael Haynes.

Cardinal Pizzaballa’s statement called for immediate and decisive disciplinary action, stating that the act was not only a grave affront to the Christian faith but an indication of a "disturbing failure in moral and human formation.”

“Yet even in the face of such offense, the Cross remains unassailable in its meaning,” the Cardinal wrote. “As Saint Paul the Apostle declares, ‘far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Gal 6:14). For believers, the Cross endures as a source of dignity, hope, and redemption, and as a summons to overcome violence through sacrificial love.”

The cardinal’s message concluded with another call for peace.

According to Al Jazeera News, Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked mosques and churches in Gaza since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza. It adds that the ReligiousFreedom Data Center (RFDC) reported at least 201 incidents of violence against Christians in Palestine between January 2024 and September 2025.