The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has denounced Tuesday’s attack on a French nun in Jerusalem, which has led to the arrest of a suspect, and called on the Israeli authorities to ensure such assaults are not repeated.
Speaking exclusively to Crux Now, Farid Jubran, Public and Governmental Affairs Advisor at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, expressed his disgust at the attack.
“This is a repulsive and barbaric hate crime committed against a defenseless nun. It is the duty of the authorities to bring the perpetrator to justice and to ensure that clear and effective measures of deterrence are put in place so that such acts are neither tolerated nor repeated,” he said.
The Israeli police released a video on Thursday night of both the attack and the arrest.
The video shows a man run up behind the nun, push her over, and kick her before he is apprehended by members of the public.
In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Israeli police said it launched an investigation after the assault was reported, and said that a suspect had been detained.
“The suspect, a 36-year-old male, was identified and subsequently arrested by police,” the force said, saying it viewed with “utmost severity” any violence “driven by potentially racist motives and directed toward members of the clergy.”
“The Israel Police treats any attack on members of the clergy and religious communities with the utmost seriousness and applies a policy of zero tolerance to all acts of violence,” the statement also read.
“In a city sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, we remain committed to protecting all communities and ensuring those responsible for violence are held accountable,” the statement added.
Alongside the statement, an image of bruising on the nun’s head was also released.
According to Dominican Father Olivier Poquillon, director of the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem, the 48-year-old nun was a researcher for the school and was attacked near the Cenacle, a building on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion which is the traditional site of the Last Supper.
Poquillon told Agence-France Presse (AFP) that the nun, who doesn’t wish to speak publicly, “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,” he added.
Poquillon also condemned the attack on X, calling the “unprovoked attack” an “act of sectarian violence.”
The French Consulate General in Jerusalem wished the nun a swift recovery and called for the attacker to “to be brought to justice for this act and for justice to be served.”
The Faculty of Humanities at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University released a statement expressing “profound shock and condemnation” and said the attack is part of a pattern of rising anti-Christian hostility.
“This is not an isolated incident, but part of a troubling pattern of rising hostility toward the Christian community and its symbols,” the statement said.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also took to X to denounce the “shameful act.”
“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,” the statement read.
“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,” the statement added.
This attack comes shortly after there was an international outcry last month over an image of an Israeli soldier smashing the head of a statue of Jesus in Debel, southern Lebanon.
Italy and Israel both donated new statues and the Italian one was used to replace the old one. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the replaced statue “a powerful message of peace, hope, and dialogue.”
