Yisca Harani urges help for a Maronite hospital after the desecration of Christ in Debel
The Israeli activist, who has fought for years in Jerusalem against religious intolerance, spoke about the action of an IDF soldier who tore down and smashed a cross in southern Lebanon. Israel’s military and foreign minister have apologised. Harani calls for education, even in the religious sector. She hopes to see an exemplary sentence.
Milan (AsiaNews) – The desecration of a statue of Christ yesterday in southern Lebanon by an Israeli soldier represents "one of the more violent acts" against religious freedom, said Yisca Harani speaking to AsiaNews.
Words alone are not enough, something for the local population must be done, added the Israeli activist, who founded the Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC) in June 2023, an NGO that documents the escalation of incidents in Israel, with a particular focus on Jerusalem.
“What has happened is just another level of a general trend, which unfortunately comes from the religious circles. Not all of them,” she said. “There are very, very good, decent religious people. They are very decent religious people, but unfortunately, the growing current is to see anything but Judaism as problematic, inappropriate, and even worse, humiliating.”
The incident occurred yesterday in Debel, a village in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, an area that has been the scene of repeated military operations. Growing coverage in both mainstream and social media growing, particularly those close to the Middle Eastern Christian community, sparked outrage and condemnation.
A member of Israel’s military, the "most moral in the world” according to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and the country's top military and political brass, is guilty of desecrating a cross with Jesus by repeatedly striking it with a sledgehammer. The picture of the event quickly went viral.
After admitting to the authenticity of the picture, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) opened an internal investigation and announced measures against the soldier involved.
This comes as a fragile 10-day ceasefire has been in effect since 17 April between Israel and Lebanon, paving the way for direct talks between the two countries, with US mediation, in an attempt to stem a brutal conflict that reached its pinnacle of destruction on 8 April.
After an initial probe, Israel’s military admitted in a post on X that the photo actually shows one of their soldiers serving in the southern sector of Lebanon. The IDF statement goes on to say that the act is "inconsistent" with the "values expected of its troops,” and “views the incident with great severity”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar also condemned the behaviour and apologised, calling it a “disgraceful and shameful” act resulting from an action "contrary to our values," because Israel "respects the different religions and their sacred symbols, and upholds tolerance and respect among faiths.”
The Israeli military says it is ready to work with the community to return the statue to its place.
AsiaNews spoke to Yisca Harani about the incident. The RFDC monitors “acts of anti-Christian whatever, harassment, incidents,” she explained.
“In general, we don't have persecution of Christians” in Israel. The situation, she noted, "is very different from Nigeria or other places.” However, as a Jew and a member of a land “termed Holy," an incident like yesterday's is "unbearable”.
“We are completely committed to changing a reality in which some people are showing disrespect, and as you saw, acts of vandalism and desecration” of religious symbols that are important to other faiths.
In response to the act, the Israeli activist launched a fundraising campaign, with proceeds to benefit the populations of the Christian villages in the area where the desecration took place.
The funds raised will be donated to the Maronite Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land, which will channel it to Debel and surrounding areas, among the hardest hit by recent IDF operations against Hezbollah. In particular, urgently needed medicines and life-saving drugs for cancer patients will be provided.
“The reason why I've created this fund [. . .] is that it is a sense of solidarity and responsibility,” Harani explained. “In a way, we are responsible for the fact that the education system in the religious sector has allowed such extremism to prevail, even if not telling people actively to desecrate. It's like, in general, ignoring anything that has to do with the others.”
For this reason, it was decided to start the fundraiser, for which "many people thanked me" because it goes beyond a gesture and represents a strong stand.
“At least half the people of Israel [. . .] cannot tolerate that in their name, such things are happening.” For those who care about coexistence and respect for other faiths, it is not just a matter of "assisting and helping the villages where this thing happened," even if they are isolated and in need of "medication and stuff like that.”
Instead, “it's a message that we're sending to our Christian brethren in the area. And it is a kind of a message to all of us that we are Jewish Israelis with humanity and with religious responsibility.”
Looking ahead, and with a view to true coexistence between faiths, the activist said that, “what is really needed in Israel are two things. Education of the religious sector about Christians being in the image of God, definitely a different religion or a sister religion, which is not Judaism,” because in the world there are many more religions.
In addition, “What we need is to take action in education and also enforcement,” Havari noted. “If there's anything happening, we must make sure that the police take the strictest measures against the spitters (against Christians), vandalizers, and the army should put this man in prison, for I don't know how long”.
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