Man who attacked French nun acquitted on grounds of mental illness

A Jerusalem court judge acquitted a Jewish man of criminal liability Wednesday for assaulting a French nun in Jerusalem’s Old City in April, ruling that he could not be held criminally responsible on grounds of mental illness.

The judge ordered the attacker, Yona Schreiber, committed to a psychiatric facility for six years.

Schreiber is seen in the video running up behind the nun and knocking her to the ground, leaving her with a bleeding head wound. He then walked away before returning to kick her, after which a passerby intervened to stop him.

The April 28 assault, captured on a nearby security camera, sparked international outrage while stoking diplomatic tensions between Israel and France. At the time, the assault was condemned by Israel’s Foreign Ministry and other Israeli leaders across the political spectrum.

The attack took place in front of the Cenacle, a building on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion considered a holy site by Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Jewish tradition also holds that the site is the burial place of King David.

After the ruling, a Jewish Israeli who heads up protective presence of Christians in the Old City, said the psychiatric incompetence of the attacker does not exonerate his family or the organization he is associated with from taking "moral and communal responsibility for the harm caused."

"In the case of the hate crime two weeks ago in a church in Jaffa, the attacker's Muslim family came to the monastery and asked for forgiveness and pardon on behalf of their son," Yisca Harani noted in a social media post. "It was an important human gesture: they do not claim that he is responsible for his actions in a legal or medical sense, but they recognize that someone was hurt and that some kind of repair of the relationship is needed."

Harani founded the Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC), an organization that documents hate crimes against Christians in Israel with the hope of better enforcement.

The indictment against Schreiber included charges of assault causing tangible bodily harm motivated by hostility toward a religious group—a complicating factor in what would otherwise have been a relatively straightforward case of aggravated assault.

However, Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Judge Ofir Tishler took Schreiber’s mental illness into account in his ruling. A psychiatrist testified that Schreiber suffers from severe mental illness and was in a psychotic state when he attacked the nun.

“The district psychiatrist determined that the unfortunate incident was the result of the accused’s mental illness and that he needs to be hospitalized for psychiatric treatment, and we hope that the medical treatment will help him to function normally again,” Schreiber’s lawyer, Idan Gamlieli, said in a statement.

“It is important for us to note that we understand the difficult feelings of the complainant and wish her well in overcoming the consequences of this unfortunate incident,” he continued.

The ruling comes after a spate of recent incidents involving Jewish Israelis being filmed—and in some cases filming themselves—while committing violence against Christians or damaging Christian symbols.

As recently as this week, a Jewish youth was caught on a surveillance camera spitting at the Armenian Quarter church entrance as he passed by.

Though Christians are largely safe in Israel, this assault along with the other recent incidents have become part of a broader conversation over Israel's treatment and protection of Christians and Christian holy sites—and the potential diplomatic consequences of these attacks.

During a recent visit to Assisi, Italy, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told journalists that some are hoping the upcoming Israeli elections will solve these problems.

"In reality, however, the problems of the Middle East are the kind that will require a great deal of time. We need new faces, new leaders. The voters will decide that." he said.