Two Israeli soldiers were sentenced to several weeks in military prison for desecrating a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said.
Last week, a photo surfaced showing a service member hugging the statue in the predominantly Christian village of Debel, near the Israeli border, and placing a cigarette in the statue’s mouth. The image sparked outrage on social media and prompted an official investigation.
On Monday, IDF spokeswoman Ariella Mazor said the soldier posing with the statue and the soldier filming him were sentenced to 21 and 14 days behind bars, respectively.
“The IDF 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,” Mazor wrote on X.
Last month, two IDF soldiers were removed from combat duty and each sentenced to 30 days in military prison after one smashed the head of a statue of Jesus Christ in the same village with a hammer while the other photographed the act. The IDF said six other soldiers who were present but failed to intervene or report the incident would be summoned for “clarification discussions.”
The IDF expanded its operations in southern Lebanon and began striking targets in Beirut and other cities in early March after the armed group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Iran. A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese government, which took effect on April 16, failed to prevent renewed clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah.
Christian communities have reported a series of incidents involving religious sites and Israeli forces in recent years. In 2023, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza hit a building adjacent to the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, the enclave’s oldest Christian shrine, killing at least 18 people. In 2025, shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell damaged Gaza’s Holy Family Church, the territory’s only Catholic parish, killing three people.
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