A man has been arrested in connection with a violent assault on a French nun in East Jerusalem.
Footage of the assault shared online shows a man forcefully shove the nun to the ground from behind. As she lies on the ground visibly hurt from the fall, he appears to kick her before a passerby rushes to her aid and fights him off.
The vicar general of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, Bishop William Shomali, called the attack on the nun “extremely serious and despicable,” Anadolu reports.
“The attacker returning to kick her after she was already injured makes the crime even more severe. This is a despicable act,” he added.
Israel's former ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon, called it an act of “Jewish terrorism".
The French Consulate in Jerusalem said that France “strongly condemns the attack against a French nun”.
It added: “We are closely monitoring her health condition and call for the perpetrator to be brought to justice.”
A 36-year-old Israeli man has been arrested in connection with the assault.
Israeli police released an image of the nun showing injuries to her face and issued a statement saying they “view all forms of violence with seriousness, particularly attacks motivated by racism targeting clergy", Anadolu reports.
