IDF jails soldiers for damaging Jesus statue in Lebanon: 'Moral failure'

>Six other troops failed to intervene or report the act; IDF says it replaced the statue with local coordination as outrage grew among Christian leaders and Netanyahu condemned the incident as unacceptable >The IDF said Tuesday that two soldiers involved in damaging a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon have been removed from combat duty and sentenced to 30 days in military detention, following an incident that drew international criticism. >The case occurred in the Christian village of Debel, where a soldier was filmed smashing the statue while another soldier photographed the act. The image later circulated widely on social media. >According to an internal inquiry, six additional soldiers were present but did not intervene or report the incident. The findings concluded that the soldiers’ conduct “completely deviated” from IDF orders and values. >The commander of the 162nd Division, Brig. Gen. Sagiv Dahan, accepted the findings and disciplinary recommendations. The two soldiers directly involved were removed from combat roles and jailed, while the other troops have been summoned for clarification hearings, with further measures to be determined. >The IDF said it “deeply regrets” the incident and stressed that operations in Lebanon are directed against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and other terrorist groups, not civilians. It added that Northern Command coordinated with local residents to install a new statue, which was placed at the site on Tuesday. >The incident sparked anger among Christian leaders. The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem condemned the act, with spokesperson Farid Jubran describing it as “deeply offensive” and humiliating. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the incident in English, saying he was “shocked and saddened” and condemning the act. >Military officials said procedures regarding conduct around religious sites and symbols had been reinforced and would be emphasized again following the incident. The findings were presented to the chief of the General Staff, who condemned the incident as unacceptable and a moral failure that contradicts IDF values. You can see pictures of the new statue placed by the idf in coordination with the towns locals

That’s where they draw the line on moral failure?

I'm really sick of people killing people over religion.

Apparently the moral line is drawn at the crucifixion of a statue of Jesus

You know christ would say 'don't care about my statue, stop killing the innocents." (PS thx ...appreciated the award.)

PR failure more like.

Good stuff. The IDF needs to lock down on their crazies. Whether they want to admit it or not, when they require hard right religious zealots to serve, some of them are going to do zealot shit. Make an example of them. I personally think 30 days is too light if he gets to keep his job, but i also dont think he should be jailed for longer periods of time.

Murder kids all you want just don’t touch the dead guy statue.

How about they jail IDF soldiers (and settlers) for murdering civilians instead?

That’s crazy they jailed the guy for destroying the statue. But didn’t jail the ones who raped the prisoners or killed the American journalists or thousand of child killers

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Outrage over a statue but kill children….. crickets.

Destroy a statue go to jail, shoot children, here’s more ammo.

If only they had raped someone, then they could be free right now

It's interesting to see the response. When this first came out, there was a mass of "they won't even punish him" posts. Dismissive of the possibility of any consequences being levied internally. The guys been jailed, and will likely face punishment, and the goal posts move. Now, "if this, why not X, Y, Z" or whatever the newest deflection is. If nothing is ever enough, if no gesture can be taken in good faith and worked with, well... Don't be surprised the kind of environment that creates.

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Cant piss off the American White Supremacist Christian Nationalists that you fooled into doing your bidding.

Only if that were the extent of their barbarism.

Is this the was on Christmas that magadonians keep talking about?

*Messing with their funding

Only punished because there's a photo. Also, haven't they burned/destroyed mosques with zero repercussions.

But raping a prisoner to death is justified by them.... F****** IDF.

The moral failure was getting filmed doing it, and that's why they're in jail. Killing kids doesn't ruffle the evangelical feathers that pay for Israeli war crimes, but smashing a Jesus statue...best to not take chances.

Ha. Moral failure, as if they care. More like PR disaster.

So raping prisoners = good being photographed destroying a statue = bad

They're only mad he got caught.

Israel has destroyed many Christian churches whats the difference pretty sure there were statues of Jesus in those churches

Because they got caught doing it. It’s why they like to kill journalists. If there had been no camera it would just be status quo.

Pretty standard right wing stuff really, completely fine watching non white children and families be brutalized and slaughtered but as soon as someone damages a statue that's what they take offense to.

As opposed to the Palestinians who name schools after terrorists and reward their families

...So they punish statue destruction with 30 days in prison, but not raping prisoners with dogs? What an evil regime. They only did anything at all because they rely on the Christians to supply them weapons

>IDF jails soldiers for *getting caught* damaging Jesus statue in Lebanon

Such incidents doesn't help Israel's larger goal of dismantling Hezbollah. There are a bunch of different religious communities living in Lebanon that hadn't always the best relationship with each other. But the aggressive tactics of Israel has given them a common enemy they can unify against. For example Meronite and Sunni villages have been pressured by Israel to stop harboring Shiite refugees. At first this makes sense since Hezbollah draws their support from the Shiite population. The thinking is: No Shiites means no Hezbollah. But once they start punish the other groups who want to help their fellow Lebanese, most of which are civilians by the way, they also anger the groups that could have been potential allies against Hezbollah. So, by desecrating religious symbols you piss off the Christian Lebanese even more. They might not like Hezbollah, by they might to start to like Israel even less.

This is very good. The IDF is accountable when its soldiers commit actual crimes. Best military ever!

Lol "damaging". Title made me think they accidentally hit it with something while fighting. Nope, guy literally taking it down with a sledgehammer.

knew something like this would happen, can't make the sponsors mad. I still give it a week max before they're released at best.

Give any large group, anywhere, of 18-25 year olds guns and military power and you’re going to get x number of incidents of poor judgment and misconduct. Literally anywhere. If you’re inclined to view this as something more than that, you should look inside yourself and question what might be motivating that inclination. 

> The findings concluded that the soldiers’ conduct “completely deviated” from IDF orders and values. All I'm getting from this is to leave Christianity alone and focus on Islam.

After the controversy dies down then what happens to the jailed soldiers?

Unfortunately I think its pretty clear the government is so upset only because of their largest backer being filled with Christian nationalists right now. If this was as Islamic statue of any sort I doubt they would get anything more than a slap on the wrist for the press.