Misleading Campaign Follows Israeli Soldier’s Destruction of Christ Statue in Southern Lebanon

A soldier from the Israeli occupation army vandalized and destroyed a statue of Jesus Christ in the town of Deir Mimas in southern Lebanon, in an incident revealed on April 19 that sparked widespread anger and condemnation as further evidence of violations against religious sanctities amid the Israeli assault on Lebanon.

The incident’s spread coincided with broad engagement from Israeli or pro-Israeli accounts across social media platforms, ranging from condemnation and justification to the promotion of altered images falsely claiming to show the statue being restored after it was destroyed. Misbar’s team at Alaraby TV monitored the reaction, analyzed the accompanying rhetoric, and traced the spread of the misleading narrative tied to the image.

Altered Images Promoted as Evidence of the Statue’s Restoration

Social media accounts circulated two images showing a soldier beside a sculpture representing Jesus Christ, claiming they documented the Israeli occupation army returning the statue to its place after it was destroyed in southern Lebanon. Some users also alleged that the soldier who vandalized the statue was later forced to restore it.

However, Misbar found no evidence in official or credible sources supporting claims that the statue had been restored or that the soldier who destroyed it was compelled to return it.

An examination of the two images revealed the “Breaking News 24/24” logo, which belongs to a Lebanese WhatsApp channel that published one of the images on April 20.

A reverse image search also showed that the two manipulated images were based on an original photograph published after reports of the statue’s destruction began circulating.

A comparison between the original image and the circulated versions revealed clear signs of digital manipulation, including differences in the condition of the tree, the addition of elements that were not originally present beneath the cross — including a rock, a book, and a kneeling soldier. The statue’s face also appeared intact in the circulated images, despite earlier widely shared images clearly showing visible damage.

Claims That Accompanied the Attack on the Christ Statue

Engagement surrounding the attack on the statue rose sharply after images of its destruction spread widely on April 19.

On April 20, engagement gradually increased as some accounts issued statements condemning the incident, while the fabricated images claiming to show the statue’s restoration were circulated in parallel. Engagement peaked on April 21 after the Israeli occupation army installed another statue.

Widespread Digital Amplification and Attempts To Shape the Narrative

Misbar’s analysis recorded around 24,000 posts over two days, shared by more than 15,000 accounts, reflecting the scale of engagement surrounding the incident.

Nature of the Accounts Involved in the Engagement

An analysis of the identities of participating accounts showed the presence of Israeli and far-right American accounts, in addition to right-wing profiles identifiable through symbols and descriptions in their bios, such as Israeli and American flags, crosses, Stars of David, and hashtags or descriptors like #MAGA and “Proud Zionist.”

Languages Used in the Engagement

Analysis of the languages used in the engagement aligned with the identities of the participating accounts, with English accounting for 91 percent, followed by Spanish at 9 percent, then French.

Geographic Distribution of the Engagement

Geographic analysis of the participating accounts showed the United States leading at 45 percent, followed by the United Kingdom at 8 percent, several Western countries, and Israel at 4 percent.

Narrative and Keywords

Analysis of the posts revealed attempts by accounts to acknowledge the incident and express regret and apology through recurring words and phrases such as “deep regret,” “apologies,” and “replaced.”

Official Israeli Rhetoric Attempted To Contain the Outrage

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli foreign minister, and the Israeli occupation army’s official account issued statements condemning the incident. Netanyahu accused Arab and Muslim countries of persecuting Christians, claiming Israel respects religions and freedom of belief.

The Israeli army’s account later published an image after replacing the statue and expressed its “deep regret,” which the same accounts then promoted widely.

Notably, the three statements initially avoided explicitly referring to the “statue of Christ,” instead using terms such as “Catholic religious icon,” “Christian symbol,” and “Christian religious symbol,” in what appeared to be an attempt to soften Christian outrage.

Accounts Promoting the Claims Between Condemnation and Misleading Narratives

Most pro-Israeli accounts condemned the incident in an apparent attempt to absorb public anger, while some anonymous accounts shared fabricated images claiming to show the statue being reinstalled.

Some of those same accounts later shared a different authentic image after the Israeli army replaced the original statue with another one, contradicting the narrative they had promoted earlier.

Among the most prominent was the Spanish-speaking account Isaac, which condemned the incident and shared an AI-generated image falsely claiming to show the statue’s restoration, before later posting a different image after the Israeli army installed another statue.

The same account also promoted content about Christians being killed in Nigeria in an attempt to frame the incident within rhetoric blaming Muslims for the persecution of Christians.

The Spanish-speaking account @IsraelVive also shared an AI-generated image falsely claiming to show the Christ statue after being reinstalled, before later posting an image released by the army after a replacement statue was installed.

Another anonymous account, Eretz Israel, shared an AI-generated image claiming to document the statue’s restoration.

Natalia Yael also circulated the fabricated image and claimed it showed the statue being reinstalled, but did not later share the update related to the new statue published by the Israeli army.

Suspicious Accounts Amplified the Engagement

Suspicious accounts took part in amplifying engagement despite their clearly limited follower counts. An analysis of accounts with fewer than 100 followers found that nearly 2,000 such accounts participated in spreading the incident.

Arab Accounts Recycled the Israeli Narrative

Some Lebanese accounts adopted the same narrative promoted by Israeli accounts, sharing an AI-generated image claiming to show an Israeli soldier apologizing and kneeling before the statue.

An examination of these accounts showed positions aligned with Israeli rhetoric and opposition to Hezbollah.

Among them was “Dr. Ahmed Yassin,” who describes himself as a Lebanese writer and political activist opposed to the “Party of Iran” in Lebanon, and who shared the same fabricated image showing an Israeli soldier beside the statue of Christ.

Another account, “DANA,” presented itself as Lebanese and opposed to Hezbollah and Iran. Research linked it to another account under the username @dana_kyriakos, which adopted rhetoric accepting the Israeli apology and blaming Hezbollah. 

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