Israeli soldiers have sparked outrage after a video surfaced showing them desecrating a Christian church in southern Lebanon. The incident reportedly occurred in Deir Mimas, near the Israeli border, and involved members of the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) Golani Special Operations Unit.
The video, which began circulating online on Monday, depicts the soldiers performing a mock wedding ceremony inside an Orthodox church. The footage shows one soldier pretending to be a bride, wearing a hood, while another soldier, using a disconnected microphone, plays the role of the priest. The soldiers can be heard laughing as they stage the ritual, and the scene escalates with one soldier kneeling before the “bride” and simulating a dramatic objection, followed by a chaotic pile-up of soldiers.
The release of the video has sparked widespread condemnation, with many social media users expressing anger over the act of disrespect towards a religious site. Karim Emile Bitar, a professor of international relations at Saint Joseph University in Beirut, criticized the incident as a clear violation of respect for religious sanctity, condemning the silence of Western politicians who claim to defend Eastern Christians while overlooking such acts.
This incident follows other controversial actions involving Israeli forces targeting cultural and religious landmarks. Earlier this month, the same IDF brigade was accused of vandalizing two memorials in Hula, southern Lebanon, with graffiti reading, “A good Shiite is a dead Shiite.” Additionally, in August, footage emerged of IDF soldiers burning copies of the Qur’an at a mosque in Gaza, which prompted an internal investigation by the Israeli Military Police.