They have kept their strategy of cultural and institutional vandalism generously broad in recent campaigns against their adversaries. It therefore came as something of a surprise that much febrile fuss was made about this month’s antics of an IDF soldier photographed attacking a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon on the edge of Debel with a sledgehammer. Instead of its usual qualifications, haughty denials and coarse justifications, the Israel military accepted the veracity of the image and viewed the act “with great severity and emphasises that the soldier’s conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops”.
The act even exercised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He felt wounded at the deviancy of it all, claiming that “Israel cherishes and upholds the Jewish values of tolerance and mutual respect between Jews and worshippers of all faiths.” Along with “the overwhelming majority of Israelis, I was stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon.” Such conduct was condemned “in the strongest terms” and military authorities had commenced “a criminal probe of the matter”, with the intention of taking “appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.”
The statement then veers sharply, if revealingly: this act of vandalism had to be condemned since an Israeli soldier had attacked a Christian relic. The same could hardly be said about conduct against the artefacts or symbols sacred to the followers of Islam, though the Israeli PM was careful not to be so explicit. “While Christians are being slaughtered in Syria and Lebanon by Muslims, the Christian population in Israel thrives unlike elsewhere in the Middle East.” Israel was the only state in the region where the Christian population was not only thriving with a rising living standard. Feeling obligated to claim some form of ecumenical tolerance, Netanyahu then recapitulated the strained notion that Israel was unique in permitting “freedom of worship for all.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also blustered on the social media platforms to express stern disapproval. “The damaging of a Christian religious symbol by an IDF soldier in southern Lebanon is grave and disgraceful.” He commended the IDF on its statement condemning the incident and seeking to take “the necessary strict measures” against the alleged perpetrator. “This shameful action is completely contrary to our values. Israel is a country that respects the different religions and their sacred symbols, and upholds tolerance and respect among faiths.”
Such views also received the firm approbation of one of Washington’s most ardent Christian Zionists, US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. The same figure has been an outed enthusiast of the Greater Israel idea, one that does not necessarily bode well for the spirit of tolerance. For the former Governor of Arkansas, it was entirely appropriate that “a strong stand” be taken in condemning “this outrageous act by an IDF soldier”. Such conduct did not “properly represent the IDF, Israel, or the Israeli [government]”.
On April 22, the IDF revealed that an inquiry had “determined [how unusually swift that was] that the soldiers’ conduct completely deviated from IDF orders and values”, expressing “deep regret over the incident”. It also announced that the statue had been replaced “in full coordination with the local community”. Both the soldier responsible for smashing the statue of Jesus, and his colluding photographer, were dismissed from combat duty and sentenced to 30 days in military prison by order of Brig. Gen. Sagiv Dahan of the 162nd Division. Six other soldiers present at the scene “have been summoned for clarification discussions that will be held later, after which further command-level measures will be determined.”
Given the biblical destruction meted out by the IDF on sites in Gaza and, more recently, Lebanon, the jailing of two offenders for cultural vandalism was meretricious, an act of kitschy public relations and counterfeit moral outrage. These figures have every reason to be aggrieved by their selective treatment, given the latitude afforded their peers in carrying out tasks of latitudinous destruction, notably after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. In January 2024, the BBC claimed that among 117 religious sites in Gaza reportedly damaged or destroyed between October 7, 2023 and December 31, 2023, 74 cases could be verified. Mosques featured prominently, and two Churches. The ancient religious sanctuary of St Porphyrius, bearing the name of the bishop whose tomb lies beneath the church, was bombed on October 19 that year, leaving 18 dead.
Israeli soldiers, in gloating about their gory exploits, have been indiscrete in posting images featuring their feats of annihilation. On July 31, 2024, soldiers from the Givati brigade uploaded a video to YouTube entitled, in Hebrew, “Israeli army forces detonate a mosque with 11 tons of explosives.” The videographer lets the audience know that the detonation took place a day prior in Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis to the southern part of the Gaza Strip. One voice exults: “Long live the State of Israel!”
In June 2025, the UN International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, published a report finding that “Israeli security forces knew or should have known the locations and significance of prominent cultural sites in Gaza and should have planned their military operations with the aim of avoiding harm.” There had been a conspicuous failure of care in avoiding damage to cultural sites and their contents. In a majority of cases, the Commission concluded that Israeli forces, in using demolishing explosives and bulldozers, had committed war crimes pertaining to the unjustified destruction of “civilian objects” and property, including “intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion and historic monuments”.
Among the religious sites damaged, three also provided sanctuary for prayer and refuge for internally displaced individuals: the Church of Porphyrius, the Ihya al-Sunna Mosque and the Saad al-Ghafari Mosque. “Together these attacks resulted in more than 200 fatalities, including many women and children.” No jail sentences have been reported for the perpetrators of these offences.
The smashed statue of Jesus has received a worthy replacement, though not in the form of the IDF offering, which proved smaller and less proximate in appearance to the original. A donation from the Italian contingent from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was deemed superior. As reported in the Times of Israel, “Lebanese media published photos showing that the statue donated by UN peacekeepers more closely resembles the original statue.” On this occasion, the UN proved most constructive.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com
