A photo emerged over the weekend of an Israeli soldier in Lebanon destroying a statue of Jesus, striking it with an axe or a sledgehammer. On Monday, the Israeli military says it is investigating the incident after confirming the authenticity of the photo.
The incident took place in Debl, a Christian village just north of the Israeli border in Lebanon. The mayor of the village 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’s offensive. Lebanon is home to the largest proportion of Christians in the region.
Netanyahu released a statement condemning the act, saying he was “stunned and saddened” by the act of an IDF soldier.
Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), wrote in a post on Facebook, “Perhaps these racists also learned from Donald Trump how to insult Jesus Christ and Pope Leo?”
Israeli attacks on Christians and Christian places have become increasingly commonplace since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.
An annual report out of a Jerusalem interreligious group documents “a continued and expanding pattern of intimidation and aggression” of harassment or violence directed at Christians in Israel by Israeli Jews in 2025.
It cited 155 incidents that included 66 attacks on people, and 51 attacks on church properties. Common acts were spitting at churches and clergy members in broad daylight or in front of police officers.
A separate reported cited Jewish concerns about Christian proselytizing and from a belief among some that Christianity is idolatry. Christians perceive that they are unwanted guests in Israel, with a rising Israeli nationalism induced by a sense that “the whole world’s an antisemite, that everyone who’s not us should be rejected and should not be here.”