On the sidelines of the war in the Middle East, Israel wants to quickly put an end to the controversy over a photo appearing to show a soldier hitting a statue of Jesus Christ with a sledgehammer in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it was examining the authenticity of this image circulating on social networks.
“If this photo is real and recent, these acts are neither consistent with the values of the IDF (the Israeli army), nor with the behavior expected of its soldiers,” military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said on X. “The incident will be thoroughly and thoroughly investigated and, if necessary, action will be taken,” he added.
An offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah
The image appears to show an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of the crucified Jesus that had fallen from its cross. Arab media said the statue was in the Christian village of Debl in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel. The municipality of Debl said the statue was indeed in the village, but could not confirm that it had been damaged.
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Israeli troops also remained in the area and demolished new houses on Sunday, according to the official Lebanese news agency, ANI. Israel took control of several areas in southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, after the pro-Iranian movement attacked the Jewish state on March 2 in retaliation for the Israeli-American offensive against Iran. A ceasefire came into effect on Friday in Lebanon.
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