The Israeli army said Monday that it had determined an image circulating on social media that shows a soldier in south Lebanon hitting a statue of Jesus Christ is authentic and shows an active service member.
The image appears to show an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off a cross.
Arab media reports indicated the statue was in the Christian village of Debl in south Lebanon, near the border with Israel in an area that Israeli forces have occupied for weeks, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate.
The Debl municipality told AFP the statue was located in the village, but couldn’t confirm whether it had been damaged.
The Israel army said it viewed the incident with “great severity,” adding that the “soldier’s conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops,” in a post on its official X account Monday.
“Following the completion of an initial examination regarding a photograph published earlier today of an IDF soldier harming a Christian symbol, it was determined that the photograph depicts an IDF soldier operating in southern Lebanon,” it said in the post.
The incident is being investigated by the Israeli Northern Command and is currently being “addressed through the chain of command,” the military added.
It said “appropriate measures will be taken against those involved” but didn’t go into further detail.
The Israel army said it’s working with the community to “restore the statue to its place.”
The IDF said it is “operating to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure established by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and has no intention of harming civilian infrastructure, including religious buildings or religious symbols.”
CBS/AP
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