The Israeli military confirmed on Monday the authenticity of a viral photograph showing a soldier hitting a statue of Jesus Christ with a sledgehammer in southern Lebanon and said it had opened an investigation. The image, which drew more than 5 million views on X, showed a soldier operating in southern Lebanon, the military said.
The statue stood on the outskirts of the village of Debl, near the border with Israel, and the photograph spread quickly as social media users condemned the desecration of a Christian religious symbol. The army said appropriate measures would be taken against those involved in accordance with the findings, but gave no immediate details about the unit or the soldier in the image.
The image landed in a region already scarred by war and by attacks on religious sites. Last month, the Israeli military launched a ground invasion in southern Lebanon alongside aerial bombardment as part of its joint war with the United States on Iran, and the photo became another flashpoint in a wider argument over the treatment of sacred places and symbols.
Palestinian lawmakers and commentators seized on the photo. Ayman Odeh wrote, “We’ll wait to hear the police spokesperson claim that ‘the soldier felt threatened by Jesus’.” Ahmad Tibi said 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. He added that perhaps these racists have also learned from Donald Trump to insult Jesus Christ and insult Pope Leo, and said that when the Western world remains silent, racists go further.
The outrage around the image also fed into a broader record of complaints over religious violence. The Religious Freedom Data Center documented at least 201 incidents of violence against Christians between January 2024 and September 2025, mainly in Jerusalem’s Old City, while the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques in the occupied West Bank last year. Several activists, academics and writers criticized the desecration of the statue, saying the silence from abroad after attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers on religious sites and symbols had become impossible to ignore.
The investigation now matters because the army has acknowledged the photo is real, and that leaves the question of accountability where the public can see it: inside a system that has promised to act while a widely shared image has already done its damage.
