Suspect arrested over attack on French nun in Jerusalem

Vatican News

“The scourge of hatred is a shared challenge,” Father Olivier Poquillon, director of the French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, wrote on X on Thursday.

He was referring to the assault on a nun that took place on Tuesday, April 28, near the area of King David’s Tomb on Mount Zion.

A 48-year-old French sister and researcher at the French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research in Jerusalem was chased by a man who pushed her to the ground and then kicked her.

A video released by the police also shows bruises on the right side of the religious sister's face.

Violence against members of the clergy

On Wednesday, Israeli police announced the arrest of a 36-year-old man suspected of attacking the nun, adding that law enforcement treats with “utmost seriousness” any act of violence “motivated by potential racist intent and directed against members of the clergy.”

Pending the legal proceedings regarding the assault, Father Poquillon thanked “those who came to help during the attack, and also diplomats, academics, and all those who offered support.”

Safeguarding freedom of worship

In recent days, the director of the French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research denounced the “unprovoked attack” on the nun, strongly condemning what had happened.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a post on X, described it as a “shameful act,” assuring that Israel remains committed “to safeguarding freedom of religion and freedom of worship for all faiths.”

The man arrested “remains in custody,” the ministry specified, emphasizing a “firm policy against violence and its determination to bring offenders to justice swiftly.”

“Violence against innocent individuals, and especially against members of religious communities, has no place in our society,” the statement added.

Rising hostility

The Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem also expressed “deep shock” at the assault and condemned it in a statement.

“This is not an isolated incident, but part of a troubling pattern of growing hostility toward the Christian community and its symbols,” the Faculty said.

At the beginning of April, the Israeli army dismissed two soldiers after they vandalized a statue of Jesus in the village of Debel in southern Lebanon—an act that drew widespread condemnation.