The Israeli military said Monday that it was investigating one of its soldiers after he was photographed in southern Lebanon swinging a sledgehammer at the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off a cross.<\/p>\n
The military said it had confirmed that the photograph was authentic and that the statue had indeed been damaged, but said it had not yet determined when the vandalism had occurred. It took place in Debl, a Christian village a few miles north of the Israeli border.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the soldier\u2019s actions and said he was \u201cstunned and saddened\u201d by this. He expressed regret for any hurt caused \u201cto believers in Lebanon and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He vowed that the military would \u201ctake appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.\u201d<\/p>\n
The military declared the soldier\u2019s conduct \u201cwholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops\u201d and said it was working to assist the community in Lebanon to restore the statue to its place.<\/p>\n
Late Monday afternoon, the military said it had identified the soldier who wielded the sledgehammer and that an investigation by the army\u2019s Northern Command was ongoing.<\/p>\n
Akl Naddaf, the mayor of Debl, said the statue was in the garden of a private home in an area where residents have been barred since they were forced to flee about a month ago by Israel\u2019s offensive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also hope that the Israeli army will open an investigation into the homes they are destroying in Debl and into the breaking of statues of saints inside them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lebanon is home to the largest proportion of Christians of any country in the region. Christians are one of the country\u2019s three dominant demographic groups, along with Sunni and Shiite Muslims.<\/p>\n
Christians in Israel said they were shocked by the photograph, which went viral<\/a> on Sunday night.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to believe it wasn\u2019t real,\u201d said Farid Jubran, a spokesman for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which oversees Latin Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking to see such an act of aggression against such an important symbol \u2014 the symbol for Christians around the world,\u201d Mr. Jubran added. He called for a firm enough punishment to ensure some measure of deterrence.<\/p>\n Mr. Netanyahu said in a social-media post<\/a> that \u201cIsrael cherishes and upholds the Jewish values of tolerance and mutual respect between Jews and worshipers of all faiths.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet Israeli attacks on Christians and Christian places have become increasingly commonplace since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the two-year war in Gaza and prompted a rightward lurch among many Israelis.<\/p>\n