Monday, August 31, 2026 - An Israeli court has acquitted a Jewish man who attacked a nun in occupied East Jerusalem, in an incident caught on CCTV that drew widespread condemnation.
Jerusalem Magistrates’ Court ruled that Yona Schreiber was experiencing a psychotic episode when he pushed over and kicked the French nun in the Old City in April, finding him not criminally responsible and ordering him to a psychiatric hospital for up to six years.
The victim hit her head on a stone block, a viral video showed, suffering a bruised face and leg. Mr Schreiber had been charged with assault motivated by hostility towards a religious group. But a district psychiatrist’s report found he “was in a psychotic state at the time of the act,” a conclusion accepted by the prosecution.
The attack deepened concerns over rising harassment of Christian clergy and pilgrims by extremists in the Old City. A 2025 report by the Rossing Centre described a “recent surge in overt animosity towards Christianity” in Jerusalem, linking it to “deepening polarisation and ultra-nationalist political trends.”
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