Israel indicts man for assault on Catholic nun

Israeli authorities indicted Yona Schreiber, a 36-year-old Jewish man from the Peduel settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Thursday for a violent assault on a Catholic nun near Jerusalem's Old City last week.

According to the indictment, Schreiber targeted the woman because she wore a habit identifying her as a nun. He pushed her to the ground, kicked her while she was down and attacked a passerby who tried to intervene. Prosecutors charged him with simple assault and assault motivated by religious hostility. Schreiber was arrested shortly after the incident, captured on video that drew widespread condemnation from foreign and Christian leaders. Israel's attorney general has recommended extending his detention through the legal proceedings. His lawyer declined to comment at court.

The nun worked as a researcher at the French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research. Olivier Poquillon, the school's director, described the attack as sectarian violence in a social media post.

The case highlights a documented increase in harassment and violence against Christian pilgrims, clergy and Palestinian Christian residents, including assaults and spitting incidents often...