IDF Confirms That Soldier Desecrated Statue of Virgin Mary in Southern Lebanon
Yet again, a soldier with the aggressor Israel Defense Forces in southern Lebanon has desecrated a Catholic statue.
This time, the culprit, as the IDF confirmed, placed a cigarette into the mouth of the Virgin Mary.
The act of anti-Catholic hatred from a soldier of America’s “most reliable ally” followed another that had already embarrassed Israeli officials. Last month, the IDF confirmed that one of its soldiers smashed an effigy of Jesus Christ.
Just last week, Israeli police arrested a man for assaulting a nun in Jerusalem, and the IDF bulldozed a Catholic convent in Yaroun.
First Jesus Christ, Now His Mother
The cigarette photo, The Times of Israel reported, went viral on Wednesday. It features a dirty soldier with a cigarette in his mouth, with his left hand blasphemously holding a cigarette to the Virgin’s lips. His right arm is draped around her shoulders.
The IDF “views the incident gravely and emphasizes that the soldier’s conduct completely deviates from the values expected of its troops,” the Times reported, citing the army:
An initial inquiry conducted by the IDF found that the photo was taken in the village of Debel several weeks ago, although it was only shared online on Wednesday.
“The IDF views the incident with utmost severity and emphasizes that the conduct of the soldier completely deviates from the values expected of its personnel,” IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ariella Mazor wrote on X over the photo.
“Command measures will be taken against the soldier in accordance with the findings,” she continued:
The IDF respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as holy sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities.
The IDF operates to address the terrorist infrastructure established by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and has no intention of harming civilian infrastructure, including religious buildings or religious symbols.
Complementing the photo is an AI-created video that purports to show the Virgin smoking. A helmeted Israeli soldier says, “Look at that, it’s smoking. Not bad for an old statue. Miracles never cease.”
But the video is believable because IDF soldiers are, indeed, desecrating and vandalizing statues.
Maronite Catholics are a significant slice of Lebanon’s population, notably in the south. Like all Catholics, they venerate the Virgin Mary.
The continuing desecrations suggest that the IDF is interested not only in killing Hezbollah terrorists that use Lebanon as a base, but also in humiliating the many Catholics who live there.
Crucifix Destroyed
As The New American reported on April 20, a viral photo showed a soldier smashing the corpus of Jesus Christ that had been removed from a crucifix and turned upside down on the ground. The soldier sledge-hammered the face.
The IDF confirmed the photo’s validity and claimed it would punish the soldier. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed to have been scandalized by desecration.
“As the Jewish state, Israel cherishes and upholds the Jewish values of tolerance and mutual respect between Jews and worshippers of all faiths,” he wrote on X:
All religions flourish in our land and we view members of all faiths as equals in building our society and region.
Yesterday, like the overwhelming majority of Israelis, I was stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon. I condemn the act in the strongest terms. Military authorities are conducting a criminal probe of the matter and will take appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.
Attacks on Convent, Nun
As for the convent, that was clobbered on May 2. “The French organisation L’Oeuvre d’Orient said Israeli troops demolished a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek Catholic religious order, in the village of Yaroun,” Middle East Eye reported.
“The Israeli military … acknowledged it caused some damage to a ‘residential structure’ at a Catholic convent compound in southern Lebanon while working to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, but denied claims that it ‘demolished’ the site with bulldozers,” The Times of Israel reported. IDF claimed the convent did not feature signs to show it was a religious building.
Back in Israel, Catholics are attacked in the street.
Before the latest desecration, Israeli cops arrested a 36-year-old Jewish extremist who attacked a nun from behind in Jerusalem near the Cenacle, the building that contains the Upper Room, where Jesus Christ ate the Last Supper with the Apostles and where the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, the Virgin Mary, and 108 others on Pentecost. It is also said to be the site of King David’s tomb.
Video showed the nutter approach the nun from behind, shove her to the ground, walk away, then return to kick her.
The brutal attack is not unusual.
Shortly after the video of the nun went viral, another showed a man spitting on the ground in front the Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Thus far this year, the Religious Freedom Data Center, founded in 2023 to track anti-Christian crimes and harassment, has recorded more than three dozen such attacks. These include 22 spitting assaults, six defaced signs, and two vandalisms. Last year, the center tallied 181 such attacks, 78 percent of which were spitting and verbal assaults.
