IDF under fire after shocking footage of Lebanese church desecration resurfaces
COURTNEY BONNEAU/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images
The original video was posted by Younis Tirawi, the same journalist who over the weekend posted the photo of the IDF soldier smashing Christ’s head with a sledgehammer. It should be noted that the IDF claims to have worked with locals in Debel, Lebanon, to replace the destroyed cross and said that it “expresses deep regret” over the recent incident.
The older video, however, has not apparently received the same response from Israeli authorities.
The video appears to have been first posted on November 25, 2024. Tirawi reported that the video was taken in a church in Deir Mimas, South Lebanon. Blaze News independently confirmed that the video matches the interior of the Monastery of St. Mamas in Deir Mimas.
The video has a caption written in Hebrew, and the soldiers in the video are also speaking Hebrew. Tirawi described the soldiers as “Israeli soldiers from the Golani Special Operations Unit,” more commonly referred to as the Golani Brigade, which has a history of operations in Southern Lebanon and the surrounding region.
The caption also includes a translation, which reads, “First wedding in the team,” followed by a cross emoji and an emoji of two raised hands.
Multiple outlets covered the video at the time. These reports claimed that the Israeli soldiers themselves posted the video first, though this video appears to have been deleted. The Council on American-Islamic Relations also issued a condemnation of the actions in the video alongside its disavowal of an alleged “call by a top Israeli official for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.”
On the same day the video of the soldiers in the church was posted, the Times of Israel reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, “It’s possible to create a situation in which Gaza will have less than half its current population within two years.”
Cited by a detailed article of the incident by Public Orthodoxy, the Israel Defense Forces issued a vague statement seemingly regarding the incident at the Monastery of St. Mamas, though it did not acknowledge the specific actions shown in the video. The statement, dated November 26, 2024, reads:
This is a serious incident that is not in line with the values of the IDF and its orders.
The IDF respects all religions and condemns such behavior.
The incident is under review, and those involved face disciplinary repercussions.
Public Orthodoxy explained that the incident was not the first time the church has been harmed by Israeli forces. The monastery, which has roots dating back to the 15th century, was razed by Israeli forces during the 2006 Lebanon War.
The article added that a pattern has emerged of Israeli soldiers filming and posting videos of themselves committing crimes, referring to a compilation of alleged examples by the Washington Post and Al Jazeera.
The IDF and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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