IDF says two soldiers will spend weeks in military prison over incident it said was viewed with great severity
Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for the desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it.
The photo of the soldier, a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, went viral and sparked widespread outrage. It was the latest act by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon to be denounced as anti-Christian.
Israel’s military said the soldier posing would be jailed for 21 days and the one who photographed him 14.
The military “views the incident with great severity and respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as holy sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities,” spokesperson Lt Col Ariella Mazor wrote on X.
