DayofPal—Senior Catholic leaders in the Holy Land have strongly condemned repeated attacks on Christian symbols by Israeli forces, warning that the latest incidents are not isolated but part of a broader, recurring pattern.
In a statement signed by Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land expressed “profound indignation” over the desecration of Jesus Christ statue by an Israeli soldier in a village in Lebanon.
The Assembly said the act constitutes a serious insult to the Christian faith, and added that the incident is not isolated, pointing to multiple reported cases of desecration of Christian symbols by Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.
Church officials said the incident reveals a deeper crisis of failure in moral and human conduct, where even basic respect for religious symbols and human dignity has eroded.
The statement called for immediate disciplinary measures and a credible process of accountability. It urged clear guarantees that such actions will not happen again.
The leaders also renewed their call to end the ongoing Israeli-US wars in the region. They said lasting peace cannot emerge from such assaults and must instead rely on restraint, dialogue, and respect for human life.
Despite global outrage over the incident, the Israeli army has decided not to refer the soldier who destroyed the statue of Jesus Christ to a criminal investigation, opting instead for a disciplinary reprimand without opening a military police probe.
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