Israeli envoy to Christian world pushes back on criticism over nun-attack verdict
Ambassador George Deek rejected claims that Israeli authorities were covering up an attack on a Christian nun by citing the assailant’s mental illness.
“An attack can be a hate-crime, and its perpetrator can also be clinically psychotic and therefore not criminally responsible,” the special envoy to the Christian world wrote on X Thursday.
While condemning genuine attacks against Christians in Israel, Deek criticized efforts to portray such incidents as evidence against Israeli society as a whole.
“Apparently, when the perpetrator is Jewish, even schizophrenia becomes evidence against Israel,” he wrote. "Turning the crimes of individuals, including people who are clinically psychotic, into an indictment of an entire Israeli society is not concern for Christians."
Adding that the court did not dispute the attack but relied on a district psychiatrist’s assessment, Deek cited similar cases in France, Spain, Britain, the U.S. and Jaffa where perpetrators of religiously motivated violence were found not criminally responsible due to psychiatric conditions.
