A photograph appearing to show an Israeli soldier desecrating a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon has provoked fresh outrage among Christians, deepening anger in a village already reeling from an earlier attack on a statue of Christ.
The image, which circulated publicly this week, is said to have been taken in the predominantly Christian village of Debel. It appears to show a soldier placing a cigarette in the mouth of a Marian statue while smoking another himself.
The incident has drawn particular attention because it follows closely on the destruction of a roadside statue of the crucified Christ in the same village, an act that the Israel Defense Forces previously acknowledged and for which senior Israeli figures issued apologies. In that earlier case, the IDF said the conduct of the soldiers involved was wholly inconsistent with military values and announced disciplinary action.
