A Jewish man was arrested Tuesday after surveillance footage showed him running up behind a French nun near Jerusalem’s Mount Zion, shoving her onto stone pavement, and kicking her repeatedly while she lay on the ground.
The suspect, a 36-year-old male, was wearing tzitzit — the ritual fringed undergarment worn by observant Jewish men — at the time of the attack. Israeli police released the footage on Thursday. It shows the man walking away after the initial assault, then returning to kick the nun a second time. A passerby briefly intervenes. The attack occurred near the Kever David HaMelech, the traditional burial site of King David on Har Tzion (Mount Zion), also known as the Cenacle.
The victim, a 48-year-old researcher at the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem, did not wish to speak publicly. Father Olivier Poquillon, the school’s director, described the attack to AFP: “She felt someone come up behind her and throw her with full force onto a rock. While the sister was on the ground, the man began to kick her repeatedly.” Police released photographs showing heavy bruising on the right side of her face.
The Bible is unambiguous: “V’ahavta et ha’ger ki gerim heyitem b’eretz Mitzrayim” — “You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19). The Sages count this among the most repeated commandments in the entire Bible — appearing by some counts 36 times. A man in tzitzit kicking a defenseless woman on the ground is not Jewish piety. It is its opposite.
Israeli police said they treat attacks on clergy with “utmost severity” and apply “zero tolerance to all acts of violence.” The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the assault “despicable” and “shameful,” reaffirming Israel’s commitment to religious freedom. France called for the attacker to be “brought to justice.” The Hebrew University’s Faculty of Comparative Religion called it a “heinous hate crime” and part of “a deeply disturbing rise in Christianophobia” across Israel.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack, posting, “
“We strongly condemn this despicable attack. Violence against innocent individuals, and especially against members of religious communities, has no place in our society. This shameful act stands in direct contradiction to the values of respect, coexistence, and religious freedom upon which Israel is founded and to which it remains deeply committed. We extend our sincere sympathies to the nun, who was pushed to the ground and physically attacked, and we convey our solidarity with the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem. Israel remains firmly committed to safeguarding freedom of religion and freedom of worship for all faiths, and to ensuring that Jerusalem remains a city where every community can live, pray, and practice its faith in safety and dignity.”
The attack is not an isolated incident. The Religious Freedom Data Center, a Jerusalem-based monitoring group, recorded 181 incidents targeting Christians, Christian symbols, and Christian institutions in Israel in 2025, and an additional 44 in the first three months of 2026 alone. Spitting attacks on clergy in Jerusalem’s Old City — frequently carried out by yeshiva students invoking an extreme reading of the Torah’s prohibition against idolatry — have persisted for years despite rabbinic condemnation. Less than two weeks before this attack, an Israeli soldier was photographed striking a statue of Jesus in a Christian village in southern Lebanon. Two soldiers were removed from combat duty and placed in military detention.
Police have not disclosed the suspect’s nationality. He was arrested on suspicion of assault; police said all potential motives, including racist motivation, are under investigation and they will seek an extension of his remand.
