Vandalised Colombian church clip falsely linked to Israeli soldiers' conduct in Lebanon

Published on June 26, 2026 at 06:03
2 min read
By Vishesh SINGH, AFP India

Video documenting smashed statues and religious figures inside a church was filmed in Colombia, contrary to posts that falsely linked it to previous cases of Israeli soldiers desecrating Christian symbols in southern Lebanon. The same footage previously circulated in posts and reports about the vandalism of La Ermita church in the Colombian city of Cali.

"Israel desecrates another church in southern Lebanon," says the caption of a Facebook video shared on June 23, 2026.

The video shows various damaged religious statues inside a church.

Israeli troops have been operating inside southern Lebanon since early March 2026, when the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group pulled Lebanon into the Middle East war (archived link).

A new ceasefire was declared in Lebanon after Israeli attacks there threatened to derail talks between the United States and Iran to end the wider Middle East war. While the fighting has diminished significantly, it has not abated completely.

Screenshot of the false post captured on June 24, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

The video also spread in similar YouTube and X posts.

"This breaks my heart to see and know because I am a Christian," reads a comment on one of the posts, while another says: "So they literally just destroyed the art work? Such a shame."

The Israeli military has previously come in for criticism over its soldiers' conduct surrounding Christian statues in southern Lebanon.

Two soldiers were given 30 days of military detention and removed from combat duty in late April, after a photo showed one soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of the crucified Jesus Christ that had fallen off a cross in the southern Lebanese village of Debl (archived link).

Two other soldiers were sentenced to imprisonment in May after one of them was photographed placing a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary (archived link).

But the footage circulating on social media of a vandalised church was not filmed in southern Lebanon.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Ariella Mazor refuted the claim in a June 23 X post, saying: "The video is not from southern Lebanon and has no connection to the IDF" (archived link).

Colombian church

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage shared in an X post from May 6 (archived link).

"Intolerance and disrespect have reached rock bottom in Cali," says the post, shared by Roberto Ortiz, a city council member in the Colombian city (archived link).

"A group of vandals has committed an unforgivable act of sacrilege at the Ermita, one of the most emblematic and distinguished temples in our city."

Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (L) and in the X post by Roberto Ortiz

The footage was also used in reports about the vandalism by local media outlets (archived here and here).

According to the reports, the individual who allegedly caused the damage was later arrested.

The falsely shared footage matches photos of the church's interior available on Google (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and Image of the church from Google

AFP has previously debunked a similar claim about the conduct of Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.

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