CAIR Calls on Congress to Stop Ignoring Israel’s Attacks on Christians After Desecration of Jesus Statue in Lebanon
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, called on the Trump administration and Congress to stop ignoring and enabling Israel’s longstanding “war on Christians” after Israeli occupation forces were shown smashing a statue depicting Jesus in Lebanon.
According to media reports, Israeli troops were filmed vandalizing a statue of Jesus in the southern Lebanese town of Debel, sparking outrage among religious communities worldwide. CAIR has repeatedly condemned Israel’s long history of attacks on Palestinian Christians in Gaza and in the illegally-occupied West Bank.
CAIR noted the verse in the Quran, Islam’s revealed text: “Had God not repelled (the aggression of) some people by means of others, destruction would have surely claimed monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which God’s Name is often mentioned.” (The Noble Quran, 22:40)
[NOTE: Muslims love and revere Jesus (peace be upon him) as one of God’s greatest messengers to humankind. They say “peace be upon him” when his name is mentioned, just as they do with Islam’s final prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). CAIR noted that while Islamic teachings do not permit physical representations of prophets, Islam affirms the right of Christians and others to practice their own religious traditions.]
In a statement, Washington, D.C., basedCAIR said:
“American taxpayer money cannot be unconditional. For years, our government has ignored and enabled persistent Israeli attacks on churches and Christians in Lebanon, Gaza, and elsewhere. Our message to American public officials is simple: If you continue sending more weapons and provide political cover for Israel’s rogue actions, you own what you see in this picture.”
Earlier this month, CAIR condemned the Israeli bombing of a synagogue in Tehran and challenged pro-Israel organizations and personalities backing the war to condemn the attack.
CAIR has repeatedly condemned Israel’s “war on Islam,” including the destruction of a mosque in southern Lebanon.
Last week, CAIR condemned an Israeli “triple tap” strike on paramedics in the southern Lebanese town of Mayfadoun.
BACKGROUNDER:
In 2023, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom reported, “Christian heads of churches in Jerusalem continued to raise public concerns that the Christian presence and holy sites in the city were under threat.
The statements identified pressure points on Christians that included violence and harassment against clergy and worshipers by violent Jewish extremists; vandalism and desecration of church properties; attempts by settler organizations to obtain strategic property in and around the Christian quarter of the Old City and the Mount of Olives; and restrictions on residency permits for Christian Palestinians under the Citizenship and Entry Law.”
In 2025, the Armenian Times reported that Israeli settler torched an “ancient Christian cemetery and the fifth-century St. George (Al-Khader) Church” in the Christian town of Taybeh.
CAIR previously condemned Israel’s 2025 deadly attack on the only Catholic church in Gaza.
The organization also condemned the 2024 reported desecration of a church in Lebanon by invading Israeli soldiers and a call by a top Israeli official for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Video posted online at the time showed Israeli soldiers mocking Christian symbols and ceremonies in an orthodox church in the Lebanese village of Deir Mimas.
A CAIR analysis shows that Israel’s response to this pattern and its impact on U.S. public opinion led not to restraint, but to a $150 million increase in the Israeli budget for what one Israeli official called “consciousness warfare.”
Reporting indicates that creating fear of Muslims and targeting churchgoers to receive pro-Israel content by identifying personal phones in churches in the American Southwest are among the ways this funding was to be spent.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com
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