Jerusalem court acquits nun's attacker on insanity grounds, orders hospitalisation

A Jerusalem Magistrate's Court has acquitted a man charged with violently attacking a Catholic nun in the Old City, ruling that he was legally insane at the time of the assault. Instead of a criminal sentence, the judge ordered the man, a Jewish settler from the occupied West Bank, to be committed to a psychiatric hospital for up to six years.

The April attack, in which the nun was beaten while walking in her habit, sent shockwaves through Israel's Christian communities. While verbal abuse and spitting have become more frequent in the densely packed historic quarter, the physical assault was seen as a rare and alarming escalation.

The court accepted the findings of the district psychiatrist, who determined the man was psychotic during the incident. However, the director of the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem, where the nun works as a researcher, expressed regret that no criminal penalty was imposed.

Friar Olivier Poquillon said he hoped the hospitalisation would be fully enforced to ensure public safety and allow the victim to recover psychologically. He added that the attacker's judgment was still sufficient to deliberately single out a Catholic nun as his victim.

Yisca Harani, founder of the Religious Freedom Data Center, which tracks harassment of Christians, noted that even unstable individuals can be influenced by hostile public discourse. Her organisation has recorded a near-tripling of incidents in Jerusalem, now averaging about one a day, mostly attributed to Jewish religious nationalists.

Experts link such hostility to historical grievances, theological objections, and tensions over sacred sites. In response, Israel's new envoy to the Christian world, Ambassador George Deek, said police have appointed an English-speaking officer as a first point of contact for Christians, promising practical steps to curb the phenomenon.