Israel’s special envoy to the Christian world on Saturday blasted “false” media reports led by the Associated Press that the IDF demolished a monastery in Southern Lebanon.
The report by the American news agency comes amid ongoing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been shelling northern Israel with rockets and missiles despite a ceasefire, and follows an incident in which an Israeli soldier damaged a statue of Jesus in Lebanon.
“It is happening again. Another lie about a monastery being destroyed,” envoy George Deek tweeted on X. “Rest assured, the monastery is intact and safe.”
“False stories about Israel are pushed fast, checked later, and used to paint Israel as uniquely evil. The pattern isn’t accidental. It’s deliberate.”
He reposted an earlier tweet by the Israeli Foreign Ministry headlined “Fake News” to encourge the media that reported it or shared it to correct the story.
“This isn’t just sloppy. It’s reckless and deliberate. If you shared it, correct it now.”
In 2018, Deek was appointed envoy to Azerbaijan, becoming Israel’s first Christian ambassador.
The report by the AP’s Mideast correspondent, Bassem Mroue, which stated that “a Catholic convent is bulldozed” in its headline, was subsequently published by The Times of Israel with its own headline that the IDF admitted damaging but not demolishing the site.
The IDF said that Hezbollah had used the deserted compound in the border village of Yaroun to fire rockets at Israel multiple times during the war.
Israeli soldiers had caused damage to a structure that “had no external signs indicating it was a religious building,” and “after identifying religious indicators inside the complex, the forces acted to prevent further damage,” the statement said.
The Israeli military published photos showing the intact structure.
The AP report had cited hearsay that Israel’s military used bulldozers to destroy parts of a Catholic convent.
The Israeli pushback came weeks after two Israeli soldiers were jailed for 30 days and dismissed from combat duty after one damaged the statue of Jesus in the village of Debel and the other photographed the incident.
