Social media users condemn Western silence on attacks on religious symbols and sites by Israeli soldiers and settlers.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 19 Apr 2026<\/span>19 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A viral photograph showing an Israeli soldier hitting a statue of Jesus Christ in southern Lebanon with a sledgehammer has sparked outrage.<\/p>\n In a statement on Monday, the Israeli military confirmed the authenticity of the image that was widely shared online, garnering more than 5 million views on X.<\/p>\n It said that following an initial review, it was determined that the photograph showed an Israeli soldier \u201coperating in southern Lebanon\u201d, where Israel last month launched a ground invasion in conjunction with aerial bombardment amid its joint war with the United States on Iran.<\/p>\n The military added that an investigation had been opened and that \u201cappropriate measures will be taken against those involved in accordance with the findings\u201d.<\/p>\n Commenting on social media, Ayman Odeh, a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament, wrote pointedly: \u201cWe\u2019ll wait to hear the police spokesperson claim that \u2018the soldier felt threatened by Jesus\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahmad Tibi, another Palestinian member of the Knesset, wrote on Facebook that those who blow up mosques and churches in Gaza and spit on Christian clergy in Jerusalem without punishment are not afraid to destroy a statue of Jesus Christ and publish it.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps these racists have also learned from Donald Trump to insult Jesus Christ and insult Pope Leo?\u201d he asked, referring to the US president\u2019s recent controversies, including his now-deleted AI-generated image that portrayed him as a Jesus-like figure and his feud with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, who has criticised the war on Iran.<\/p>\n Several activists, academics and writers also criticised the desecration of the statue, which was located on the outskirts of the village of Debl in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel.<\/p>\n Social media users also condemned the international silence following attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers against religious sites and symbols.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the Western world remains silent, racists go further,\u201d said Tibi.<\/p>\n Israeli forces repeatedly attacked religious sites, including mosques and churches, during Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, settlers vandalised or attacked 45 mosques last year, according to the Palestinian Authority\u2019s Ministry of Religious Affairs.<\/p>\n Separately, the Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC) documented at least 201 incidents of violence against Christians, primarily committed by Orthodox Jews targeting international clergy or individuals displaying Christian symbols, between January 2024 and September 2025.<\/p>\n The majority of these incidents, which included multiple forms of harassment, including spitting, verbal abuse, vandalism and assaults,\u00a0took place in Jerusalem\u2019s Old City, located in occupied East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Social media users condemn Western silence on attacks on religious symbols and sites by Israeli soldiers and settlers. Published On 19 Apr 202619 Apr 2026 A viral photograph showing an Israeli soldier hitting a statue of Jesus Christ in southern Lebanon with a sledgehammer has sparked outrage. In a statement on Monday, the Israeli military […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg?resize=96%2C96&quality=80)
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