Originally published in Israel365News
In an extraordinary act of grace, Christian leaders from around the world are calling on Israel’s President Isaac Herzog to release the IDF soldier who desecrated a statue of Jesus in Lebanon, saying forgiveness, not punishment, is the right response.
In a remarkable turn that few could have anticipated, a coalition of prominent Christian Zionist leaders has issued a public letter to Herzog calling for clemency for the IDF soldier who smashed a statue of Jesus Christ in the Christian village of Debel in southern Lebanon — and declaring, on behalf of their communities: “We forgive this soldier.”
The IDF announced on Tuesday that its soldier who smashed the statue of Jesus — and another who photographed it — have been removed from combat duty and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Further, the IDF said that the statue has been replaced “in full coordination with the local community of Debel in southern Lebanon,” where the incident took place.
The Christian forgiveness letter, prepared by Byron Stinson of Boneh Israel and Donna Jollay, Director of Christian Relations at Israel365 and signed by Christian leaders from across the world, comes directly in response to the condemnation issued by more than 200 rabbis and Jewish leaders organised by Israel365 Action, which garnered worldwide attention. That Jewish letter, which called the act a chillul Hashem, offered a direct apology to the Christian world, and called for deeper Jewish education about Christian-Jewish relations, appears to have moved the Christian community in a profound and unexpected way.
“We appreciate the fact that the government of Israel has reprimanded the soldier, but disagree with the decision to send him to jail,” said Stinson.
The letter does not minimise the gravity of the soldier’s act. The signatories write that they understood why the IDF took swift disciplinary action and were grateful for it. But having received the Jewish community’s apology, they now feel called in the spirit of their own faith, to respond with grace.
“We believe that punishment without mercy is not justice — it is merely law,” they wrote. “And we believe that the greatest response to an act of desecration is not continued punishment, but transformation. We pray that this young man will come to understand the pain his actions caused, will encounter the love of Israel’s Christian Zionist friends around the world, and will become — as so many have before him — a bridge rather than a barrier between our peoples.”
Invoking the words of Jesus from the cross, Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do, the Christian leaders called on President Herzog and Israeli military authorities to consider releasing the soldier, urging that “the chapter close not with bitterness, but with forgiveness”.
Laurie Cardozo Moore, founder of Proclaim Justice to the Nations and one of Israel’s most tireless Christian advocates, offered a pointed reflection on the deeper roots of the incident. “Unfortunately, due to 2 000 years of persecution and antisemitism, Christianity is responsible for this soldier’s view of Christians and Christianity,” she said. It was a striking act of moral honesty: a Christian leader acknowledging that the hostility some Jewish Israelis harbor toward Christianity did not emerge from nowhere, but was forged through centuries of suffering inflicted in the name of the cross. Rather than use that history as an excuse to withhold forgiveness, Moore and her fellow signatories invoked it as all the more reason to extend it, and to work together toward a future no longer defined by that painful past.
The letter was signed by a broad cross-section of pro-Israel Christian leaders and organisations, including Donna Jollay, Israel365 Director of Christian Relations; Byron Stinson of Boneh Israel; Pastor Tommy Waller of HaYovel; Laurie Cardozo Moore of Proclaim Justice to the Nations; Jayne Foss of Bridges for Peace; Rosemary Schindler Garlow of Well Versed Ministries; Christina Darg of the Jerusalem Channel; Dr Victoria Sarvadi of the Nathaniel Foundation; Tudor Petan of Alpha Omega TV; Pastor Troy Brewer of Troy Brewer Ministries; Earl and Kathleen Cox, Israel Goodwill Ambassadors; and many others.
Rabbi Tuly Weisz, founder of Israel365 and the driving force behind the original Jewish condemnation letter, called the Christian response “one of the most moving moments” he has witnessed in decades of interfaith work. “We issued our letter because it was the right thing to do, because the Torah demands it and because our Christian friends deserve it. We did not issue it expecting anything in return. That these Christian leaders have responded not with anger but with forgiveness is a testament to the depth and the beauty of the relationship we have built together. It is nothing short of a kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of God’s name.”
Additional signatories include Steve Wearp of Blessed Buy Israel; Paul Lagno of the Bible Students Alliance for Israel’s Future; Russell Smith of Ten From the Nations; Pastor David Swaggerty of Charisma Life Ministries; Steve Hoelscher of Israel Lighthouse for the Nations; Joshua Christian of Crisis Relief Partners; Ruben Ramos of Nashville Sabbath Fellowship; Connie Wilson of Global Capital Connections; Revis Daggett of EMET Solutions; Ayron Stinson of BuildTheTemple.com; John Turner of the Father’s House Educational Foundation; Brian Sanders of Why Stand with Israel; Melissa Collins of House of Prayer; and Wayne Hamit of Mountain Movers International. The letter remains open for signatures as Christian communities around the world continue to add their voices to the call for clemency and reconciliation.
Christians interested in adding their name to the letter which will be presented to Israeli President Herzog, can click here to sign the letter.
The episode, beginning with a soldier’s act of desecration, continuing through a rapid and sweeping Jewish communal condemnation, and now culminating in a Christian call for mercy, has become an unexpected parable about the possibility of repair. “What began as a wound in the Jewish-Christian relationship,” said Donna Jollay, Director of Christian Relations at Israel365, “has, through the actions of leaders on both sides, become something closer to a model for how that relationship can weather even its most painful moments.”
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