IDF Apologizes For Hitting Church, Damaging Virgin Mary Statue

Ha'aretz Daily ^

[RCW2001]

IDF apologizes for hitting church, damaging Virgin Mary statue

By News Agencies

	The statue of the Virgin Mary damaged Thursday by IDF tank fire. (Photo: AP)

The IDF apologized Thursday for striking a church compound, damaging a statue of the Virgin Mary during an incursion in the West Bank city of Bethlehem earlier in the day. The army said it regretted hitting the church and damaging the statue, adding disciplinary action would be taken.

An IDF statement said the church is on a map of holy places and other sites forbidden for soldiers to shoot at. The statement said shots were fired at soldiers in recent days from university buildings near the compound.

An IDF tank shell slammed into the church in a pre-dawn battle. Shrapnel peppered the statue and sliced off the hands and nose, a nun said.

The church compound also houses a hospital and an orphanage. Patients at the hospital were rushed to a safer room during the fighting.

IDF troops and tanks began moving into central Bethlehem from all directions around 1 A.M. and took control of a southern residential section of the city. Residents said soldiers were searching houses and taking up positions in buildings. Tanks were parked 300 meters (yards) from the Church of the Nativity, revered by Christians as the birthplace of Christ.

During a barrage of bullets and artillery, a tank shell punched a bowling ball-sized dent in the thick stone facade of the two-centuries-old Holy Family Church. The stone blocks were blackened and pockmarked.

The damaged Virgin Mary sculpture, with arms outstretched, remained standing on the roof beside an unlit star decoration and a flag of the Vatican.

No one was injured inside the church compound.

The nun in charge of the compound, Sister Sophie, said an IDF tank moved to within 50 meters (yards) of the church hospital and fired a shell that struck the top of the church. Under the sound of heavy machine gun fire, she rushed hospital patients into a different wing of the building. Several women had just given birth in the maternity ward.

[jonatron]

Deu 12:3

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

[PokeyJoe]

Bad move Israelites.

Never telegraph the enemy where you will and/or will not shoot.

"Quick, Zahid - into the infidel Christian building with the suicide bomb belts, the Jews will never shoot us there."

[hangin' chad]

What's the big deal the IDF took out the U.S.S Liberty in 1967, killing a few dozen of our sailors and never apologized...why get upset about this?

[veronica]

Israel DID apologize AND paid reparations. Get it right. Meanwhile:: Palestinian gunmen lynch collaborators in Manger Square

[Free the USA]

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

[RCW2001]

The damaged Virgin Mary sculpture, with arms outstretched, remained standing on the roof beside an unlit star decoration and a flag of the Vatican.

Yep..."She" was hiding and concealing 'terrorist's' that were using Her as a 'hiding place', so 'take Her out'.

Worked as an excuse in the refugee camps...why not here???

[crystalk]

Few hothead anti-Christians in the IDF, cannot see a statue of the Virgin without shooting at it.

Just think what we would be hearing if somebody in the National Guard shot at a Jewish synogogue or temple symbol.

[RCW2001]

BTW...look at the picture. Those were deliberate and intentional 'hits' in the Head and Body of the Virgin Mary.

Unless Araflop suddenly created an 'air force'...there was no reason to aim to the sky's.

[veronica]

Just think what we would be hearing if somebody in the National Guard shot at a Jewish synogogue or temple symbol.

Or if a suicide bomber saw some Israelis coming out of a temple...oh wait they did...they killed a bunch of them a few weeks ago. On purpose. No apology either. The statue was not hit on purpose.

[ladyjane]

This is so very sad. And all done in the name of religion.

[RCW2001]

So your equating the National Guard with "suicide bombers"???

[RCW2001]

The statue was not hit on purpose.

Bull$hit...what were they 'aiming' at then, dear roni? Araflop F-16's???

[HockeyPop]

Better that an idol or graven image take the shrapnel than a child or other human shield. In Vietnam we took out many Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian temples. We even shelled Catholic churches. Go back in history and weigh the respective transgressions of Christian's, Jews and Muslims on one another's holy sites. The fact is war was and still is hell, and is fought by young men who have yet to open the book of life. So let ye without sin...

[l33t]

How do you know that it was deliberate?

In one gun battle, an Israeli tank shell hit the Holy Family Church, which is part of a compound that also houses a hospital and an orphanage, according to Sister Sophie, a nun in charge of the complex. The shell hit a church roof and sliced off the hands and nose of a statue of the Virgin Mary, she told news agencies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/14/international/middleeast/14CND-MIDE.html

[HockeyPop]

You like to post about war so let me ask you, WTF did you serve other than fries and cokes?

[HockeyPop]

BTW...look at the picture. Those were deliberate and intentional 'hits' in the Head and Body of the Virgin Mary. Unless Araflop suddenly created an 'air force'...there was no reason to aim to the sky's.

If you're going to post an article then at least read it!

"An IDF tank shell slammed into the church in a pre-dawn battle. Shrapnel peppered the statue and sliced off the hands and nose, a nun said."

Can you say "shrapnel"? I'll trust the good sister on the scene than your agitprop lightweight commentary insinuating some young soldier(s) used the VM as target practice.

[RCW2001]

Judging by your demeanor, your going to believe anything I tell you anyway? GFY...freehand!

[dighton]

BTW...look at the picture. Those were deliberate and intentional 'hits' in the Head and Body of the Virgin Mary. -- RCW2001.

An IDF tank shell slammed into the church in a pre-dawn battle. Shrapnel peppered the statue and sliced off the hands and nose, a nun said. -- Ha'aretz.

In other words, according to YOUR posted article, you are talking nonsense.