Whenever a false accusation starts circulating that Israelis have deliberately bombed some religious building in Lebanon or Gaza, the West freaks out. But I have yet to see a firestorm of outrage over Hezbollah directly hitting a historic Byzantine church that Israeli authorities were working hard to preserve.
The Times of Israel spoke with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to report the few original details on the strike. The outlet stated, “The rocket hit a modern structure inaugurated in 2022 to preserve an impressive mosaic floor spanning over 500 square meters (nearly 5,400 square feet) and make it accessible to the public.” The Jerusalem Post subsequently reported on Sunday the hopeful news that while debris buried the mosaic, Israeli authorities believe once cleared, the mosaic will be essentially intact.
The remains of a Byzantine Church dating back some 1,500 years in the northern city of Nahariya were hit by a Hezbollah rocket on Friday night, the Israel Antiquities Authority confirmed to The Times of Israel on Sunday.
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) April 13, 2026
The rocket hit a modern structure inaugurated in 2022 to… pic.twitter.com/LRyE67Ex0j
Between the beginning of March and the first week of April, Hezbollah fired over 6,500 missiles, rockets, and UAVs at Israeli civilians. Meanwhile, Hezbollah's paymasters in Tehran repeatedly fired upon the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim holy sites in Old City Jerusalem ahead of Passover and Easter. Islamic terrorists often try deliberately to destroy Jewish and Christian holy sites.
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Ironically, the ancient Persians originally damaged the mosaic, and now the modern Iranian regime's proxies tried to wreck it. The Jerusalem Post explained:
The church, rediscovered by the Nehariya municipality in 1964, is home to a colorful mosaic floor dating to roughly 550 [AD].
Originally destroyed by the Persians in 614 [AD], it was painstakingly restored by the IAA over the course of two years, and officially opened to the public in 2022.
Will Pope Leo, who has been regularly vilifying Israel, make a statement on the very Lebanese terrorists whose situation he mourned attacking a historic Christian church? Will any Christian leaders give the Israelis credit for attempting to preserve the Christian ruins while Islamic terrorists tried to destroy them? Will any of the American politicians who helped fuel the false claims about why Israeli authorities had to close the Church of the Holy Sepulcher temporarily during Holy Week be equally quick to promote this true story?
I would say that's a no, given that the strike occurred last Friday and the story is still filtering into the American press on Monday. In fact, the story seems only to have received real traction in Israeli media.
We pray the Israelis can salvage the mosaic and the ruins. If they do, it will be solely due to Israeli efforts—otherwise, this may become yet another example of the destruction of Christian churches in the Holy Land, a violent pattern going back centuries. As usual, saving Christian monuments in the Middle East is up to the Jews, who have to battle the most terroristic efforts from Islamists to the contrary.
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