The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned Israel’s reported destruction of a historic Christian monastery and a nuns’ school in southern Lebanon, calling the incident part of a broader pattern of escalating attacks on Christian and Muslim communities in the region.
According to media reports, Israeli forces demolished the religious and educational sites, raising alarm among religious leaders and human rights advocates about the safety of Christian institutions amid ongoing Israeli occupation operations.
Earlier today, CAIR called on Republican elected officials and Christian political organizations to condemn escalating attacks on Christians in Palestine and Lebanon, including an Israeli man’s assault on a French nun in Jerusalem and Israel’s destruction of churches and Christian villages in Lebanon.
In a statement, Washington, D.C., based CAIR said:
“All those who defend religious freedom must speak out against the destruction of Christian and Muslim holy sites and institutions by Israeli occupation forces in Lebanon. The demolition of a monastery and school serving nuns in Lebanon is deeply disturbing and demands immediate international condemnation. Silence in the face of such actions undermines the universal principle of protecting religious rights and sacred spaces.”
CAIR recently condemned Israel’s destruction of a statue crucifix in Lebanon.
In 2024, Israeli forces desecrated a church in Lebanon. In October 2023, Israeli forces bombed the Church of St. Porphyrius in Gaza, one of the oldest in the world.
SEE: Airstrikes have struck Orthodox church compound in the city of Gaza
END
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