Israel Investigates Soldier Who Destroyed Crucifix in Lebanon Amid Catholic Outcry

April 20, 2026 World News

A woman checks a social-media post on her mobile phone featuring an image that appears to show an Israeli soldier hitting a statue of Jesus Christ in the southern Lebanese Christian village of Debel, in Beirut, on April 20, 2026. The photo, which the military determined was authentic after it spread online, shows an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, called the act ‘a grave affront to the Christian faith.’