Israel Indicts Jewish Settler for Assaulting Catholic Nun in Jerusalem

Israeli authorities indicted a Jewish man on Thursday for a violent assault on a Catholic nun near Jerusalem’s Old City, charging him with simple assault and assault motivated by religious hostility. The indictment identified the suspect as a 36-year-old resident of the Israeli-occupied West Bank settlement of Peduel.

He was arrested shortly after the April 28 incident in an alley near King David’s Tomb and has remained in custody. Prosecutors have asked that he remain detained until the trial concludes. Surveillance video captured the man rushing toward the 48-year-old nun, who was wearing a white habit and black veil identifying her as a researcher at the French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research.

He pushed her to the ground, where she nearly struck her head on a stone block, then returned to kick her while she lay on the pavement. A passerby who tried to intervene was also punched and kicked. The nun suffered facial bruising and bruises to her legs.

The suspect decided to attack only after noticing her religious attire, according to the indictment. The French consulate in Jerusalem condemned the assault and demanded the attacker be brought to trial. The Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem expressed profound shock and deplored what it called a troubling pattern of rising hostility toward the Christian community.

" — Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (The Guardian) Religious groups have documented an increase in harassment and violence against Christian pilgrims, clergy and Palestinian Christian residents in recent years, including spitting and assaults often carried out by extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Such incidents are particularly common in the narrow alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City, home to holy sites for Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The indictment follows several other high-profile cases involving Christian symbols and clergy in recent weeks. An Israeli soldier was relieved of combat duties and sentenced to 30 days in military detention after smashing the face of a Jesus Christ statue in a southern Lebanese village.

Another soldier was photographed placing a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Israeli military said it viewed the latter incident with utmost severity and opened an investigation. Israeli leaders disavowed both events and assisted local residents in replacing one of the statues.

On Palm Sunday, police stopped a convoy carrying the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and prevented him from holding a private Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the first such restriction in centuries. Officers later reached a compromise allowing a limited Easter Mass.

Questions have also been raised about soldiers bulldozing parts of a Catholic convent in southern Lebanon. In response to the string of incidents, Israel’s Foreign Ministry appointed a special envoy to the Christian world last month and reiterated the country’s commitment to religious freedom.

A coordinator for the Holy Land Christian Forum described attacks targeting Christians as a growing phenomenon. He attributed the swift arrest in the nun’s case to the fact that it was captured on video but expressed doubt that the pattern would end soon.

The coordinator cited insufficient deterrence, noting that in many similar cases there are either no arrests or suspects are released after one or two days. He said police sometimes do not recommend prosecution or file only mild charges. Israel’s founding declaration promises to safeguard freedom of religion and holy places, and the country presents itself as an oasis of tolerance in a volatile region.

Church authorities and monitoring groups, however, have lamented a recent rise in anti-Christian sentiment, especially in Jerusalem’s Old City. The attack on the nun drew widespread condemnation from foreign and Christian leaders. Israel’s foreign ministry called the act shameful while stressing its commitment to freedom of worship for all faiths.

The suspect’s lawyer declined to comment to reporters at the court. The case comes as Israeli treatment of religious minorities faces renewed international scrutiny following security-related restrictions on worship during the recent Iran conflict.