Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in an interview with Fox News on Sunday that Christians in Lebanon had asked Israel to “annex” their villages, many of which Israeli forces have damaged or destroyed.
Speaking on the pro-Israel US news outlet with host Jacqui Heinrich on "The Sunday Briefing", Netanyahu said “we…take care of our friends, especially the Christians in the Middle East”.
“Christian villages in Lebanon some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel because we protect them against Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them and we do the same things with Christians everywhere…in the Middle East,” said Netanyahu.
But Netanyahu’s remarks sit uneasily beside Israel’s own record in Lebanon, where its forces have destroyed churches, damaged Christian religious sites and filmed soldiers desecrating Christian symbols.