(LifeSiteNews) — A 36-year-old man was arrested by Israeli police after it was reported that a religious sister was attacked near King David’s tomb in Jerusalem.

A released photo of the sister, who works for the French School of Biblical and Archeological Research, shows that she suffered a bloody right temple from the attack.

ISRAEL 🇮🇱

A Catholic nun has been violently assaulted in Jerusalem

The hate attack occurred near the tomb of King David and has been charged as ‘racially motivated’ while the nun’s institute director called it ‘sectarian violence’

A 36 year old man has been arrested pic.twitter.com/E4dVoTMsvT

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) April 29, 2026

The director of the research institute, Olivier Poquillon, said the sister was the “victim of an unprovoked assault.”

“We strongly condemn this act of sectarian violence and expect the authorities to act swiftly and decisively,” he wrote on X.

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The suspected attacker was interrogated on suspicion of a racially or religiously motivated assault, police said, and will be brought into custody at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court to await trial, according to The Times of Israel. The identity of the attacker has not been disclosed.

Police have reportedly released footage of the arrest.

A 36 year old man was arrested in Jerusalem for the assault of a nun near King David’s tomb on Tuesday, according to the Israel Police. The motive is still under investigation. pic.twitter.com/Ur2owmUXmM

— Michael Starr (@StarrJpost) April 29, 2026

“The Israel Police views seriously any manifestation of violence, especially racially motivated, directed at religious figures. The police will continue to act with a heavy hand and zero tolerance in order to preserve and maintain the proper and safe fabric of life for all ethnicities and religions in the city of Jerusalem,” a police spokesperson said, according to Jerusalem Post. 

The unprovoked attack reportedly occurred while the sister was walking in the Bab al‑Nabi Dawud area, and was carried out by an Israeli colonizer, according to the al‑Baidar Human Rights Organization.

The organization said the attack is part of a broader pattern of crimes targeting civilians in Jerusalem and its surrounding neighborhood.

Clergy in Israel have highlighted the fact that violence against Christians by Israel settlers in Jerusalem and the West Bank area has been escalating.

Bishop William Shomali told EWTN last Thursday that since the beginning of this year, “the aggressions against Christians in the West Bank are multiplying.”

In Jerusalem, in 2025 alone, 155 to 181 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism targeted at Christians were recorded, according to the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue and the Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC).