Israel troops jailed for Virgin Mary statue desecration

Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in a military prison for desecrating a Christian object after one put a cigarette into the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other took a photo of the statue.

The photo of the soldier with a cigarette hanging from his mouth went viral, sparking widespread outrage.

This was the latest action by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon that has been accused of being anti-Christian.

The Israeli army said that the soldier who posed would be sentenced to 21 days in military prison, and the soldier who took his photo would be sentenced to 14 days in military prison.

“The military treats the incident with great seriousness and respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as sacred sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities,” spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ariella Mazor wrote about X.

The photo spread days after images of an Israeli soldier attacking a statue of the crucified Jesus with an ax in the southern Lebanon village of Debel were strongly condemned by foreign leaders, Christian leaders and Israeli politicians.

The army sentenced the soldiers who participated in the breaking of the cross to a military prison.

Israeli forces took control of southern Lebanon as part of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began on March 2 when the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group launched missiles at the border two days after the United States and Israel launched a war with Iran.

Israel then launched a ground offensive into southern Lebanon, and its forces remained in the region despite a week-long ceasefire.

The Israeli military says it only targets buildings used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group. The extent of the destruction has Lebanese officials and residents worried that large numbers of people displaced by the latest war will have nowhere to return if the fragile ceasefire continues.