On May 1, 2026, former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of destroying a monastery and a nuns’ school in the Lebanese border village of Yaroun.
Greene was reacting to a post from Mario Nawfal, a self-styled “reporter” who has repeatedly spread misinformation about Israel. Nawfal claimed Israel had destroyed at least nine religious sites across Lebanon’s border villages and alleged that IDF soldiers were caught on video manually planting explosives inside religious buildings.
But the photo attached to the post showed none of that.
The image simply showed rubble with what appeared to be a tattered Lebanese flag hanging from nearby branches. It showed no soldiers, no explosives, and no monastery being blown up.
That did not stop Greene from immediately blaming Israel anyway.
“American Christians speak out!!!” she wrote on X. “America can’t be silent and must stop funding Israel to do such atrocities!!!”
Her post garnered more than 358,400 views and over 11,000 likes.
The story was then amplified by Alex Jones, who claimed “Israeli invasion forces” destroyed “the historic monastery and school belonging to the Sisters of the Holy Savior in the southern Lebanese border village of Yaroun.” Jones went even further, accusing Israel of the “systematic destruction of 35,000 Christian homes and churches in southern Lebanon!”
Jones attached a video to his post, which received over one million views and more than 15,000 likes.
The video also failed to support his claim. Rather than documenting the destruction of a monastery, the footage appears to show little more than a tractor operating in the far distance. No buildings can be seen being demolished. No monastery destruction is visible. Viewers were apparently expected to just take Jones’ word for it.
That’s because the alleged destruction never happened.
According to reporting from The Times of Israel, the IDF acknowledged causing only minimal damage near the site and stated that the building “had no external signs indicating it was a religious building.”
“After identifying religious indicators in the complex, the forces acted to prevent further damage,” the military said while releasing photos showing the structure still standing and intact.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry separately confirmed that the site remains “intact and safe.”
Israeli officials further explained that Hezbollah — much like its sister terror organization Hamas — has repeatedly operated out of civilian areas, including homes, churches, and religious compounds. In recent weeks, Hezbollah reportedly fired toward Israel from the vicinity of the monastery compound in Yaroun. Israeli operations in the area targeted Hezbollah infrastructure while taking measures to avoid damaging the monastery and other religious sites.
But by then, the claim had already exploded across social media and begun circulating through Arab media outlets — because on the internet, accusations travel much faster than corrections.
The IDF never targeted a Catholic monastery or Christian religious site in Yaroun. And despite the conspiracy-laced insinuations online, Israel has little reason to hide such incidents when they actually occur.
In previous cases where IDF soldiers damaged Christian holy sites or religious relics, Israeli authorities publicly acknowledged the incidents and took restorative action. The idea that Israel suddenly decided to secretly wage war on nuns while simultaneously posting evidence of the building still standing defies common sense.
The Yaroun story also fits neatly into Greene’s broader pattern of pushing narratives designed to drive a wedge between Christians and Jews.
In February 2026, for example, Greene claimed Jewish “settlers” were “taking” Christian homes in Bethlehem and urged American Christians to “speak out” against alleged Christian persecution there.
That claim was false too.
As the Israel Truth Network pointed out at the time, Jews are prohibited from entering Bethlehem and other Area A territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority. There are no Jewish communities in Bethlehem, and Jews do not live there — which makes it somewhat difficult for them to be “taking” homes there in the first place.
Takeaway
Marjorie Taylor Greene is hijacking both “America First” and concern for persecuted Christians to peddle false accusations about Israel. She took an unverified claim from a serial misinformation promoter, blasted it to millions, and framed it as yet another example of Israel supposedly targeting Christians — all before bothering to establish whether the story was even true.
What makes it especially grotesque is the distraction it creates from the real crisis facing Christians across large parts of Africa and the Middle East. While churches are being burned, priests kidnapped, worshippers massacred, and entire Christian communities terrorized by jihadist groups and sectarian militias, Greene is spending her time manufacturing outrage over false or distorted claims about Israel because it feeds an online political narrative. She is exploiting Christian suffering as a prop in a conspiracy ecosystem, cheapening real persecution by turning it into another vehicle for the anti-Israel grift.
Sources
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Alex Jones, Times of Israel, Israeli Foreign Ministry, Israel Truth Network, Israel Truth Network
