{"id":322513,"date":"2026-04-22T03:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=322513"},"modified":"2026-04-22T03:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:43:33","slug":"israeli-soldiers-jailed-after-smashing-jesus-statue-with-sledgehammer-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/israeli-soldiers-jailed-after-smashing-jesus-statue-with-sledgehammer-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli soldiers jailed after smashing Jesus statue with sledgehammer | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The image sparked international outcry after going viral this weekend (Picture: X)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two Israeli soldiers who smashed a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon have been jailed and faraway from combat duty.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military sentenced the soldiers to 30 days in prison after the photo, taken within the Christian village of Debel, went viral and sparked international outcry.<\/p>\n

After an investigation by the Israeli Defence Forces, it was found that six other soldiers who witnessed the scene didn\u2019t stop or report it.<\/p>\n

Those other soldiers have been asked to come back forward for \u2018clarification discussions that can be held afterward, after which further command-level measures can be determined\u2019.<\/p>\n

The IDF said in a press release: \u2018The inquiry determined that the soldiers\u2019 conduct completely deviated from IDF orders and values.<\/p>\n

\u2018The IDF expresses deep regret over the incident and emphasises that its operations in Lebanon are directed solely against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and other terrorist groups, and never against Lebanese civilians.\u2019<\/p>\n

The IDF claims to have replaced the statue.<\/p>\n

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Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has displaced greater than 1,000,000 people in Lebanon (Picture: EPA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the photo was real, writing on X: \u2018I condemn the act within the strongest terms. We make an apology for the incident, and for any hurt this has caused to believers in Lebanon and all over the world.\u2019<\/p>\n

Apologies from Israeli officials fell on deaf ears, nonetheless, with many mentioning that prior to now, the IDF has fired on other religious sites.<\/p>\n

In 2024, an airstrike killed eight individuals who were sheltering contained in the St George Melkite\u00a0Catholic Church\u00a0in Derdghaya, Lebanon.<\/p>\n

The strike was rebuked by\u00a0Pope Francis, who called for a ceasefire in Lebanon. The IDF said the strike was targeting militants who were operating nearby.<\/p>\n

Last\u00a0summer,\u00a0Gaza\u2019s only\u00a0Catholic church\u00a0\u2013 a refuge for a lot of Christians during\u00a0Israel\u2019s war on Palestinians \u2013 was bombed. Two people were killed and a number of other, including the parish priest, were injured.<\/p>\n

Historic diplomatic talks between Israel and\u00a0Lebanon\u00a0are set to resume on Thursday in Washington, an Israeli, a Lebanese, and a US official said.<\/p>\n

The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met last week for the primary direct diplomatic talks in many years.<\/p>\n

Israel says the talks are geared toward disarming Hezbollah and reaching a peace agreement with\u00a0Lebanon.<\/p>\n

A ten-day ceasefire began on Friday in\u00a0Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants broke out two days after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran to start out the war.<\/p>\n

Fighting in\u00a0Lebanon\u00a0has killed greater than 2,290 people and displaced well over 1,000,000.<\/p>\n

Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Gang guilty of gunning down mum in drive-by shooting targeting rapper outside funeral<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Man pleads guilty to religiously aggravated rape and assault of Sikh woman<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: British teen told to not enter any synagogue after pleading guilty to arson attack<\/span><\/p>\n

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The image sparked international outcry after going viral this weekend (Picture: X) Two Israeli soldiers who smashed a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon have been jailed and faraway from combat duty. The Israeli military sentenced the soldiers to 30 days in prison after the photo, taken within the Christian village of Debel, went viral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":322514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[12209,22216,25946,395,50823,24586,7816,1715,813],"class_list":["post-322513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-israeli","tag-jailed","tag-jesus","tag-news","tag-sledgehammer","tag-smashing","tag-soldiers","tag-statue","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322516,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322513\/revisions\/322516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}