Israeli police arrested a 36-year-old man on suspicion of assaulting a French nun near the site believed to house King David’s Tomb and the Upper Room where Jesus held the Last Supper in Jerusalem, with investigators examining whether the attack was racially motivated.

The suspect, whose nationality police declined to disclose, was caught on surveillance footage running up from behind the 48-year-old nun at about 5:45 p.m. local time last Tuesday, shoving her onto a rock with full force and then kicking her repeatedly while she lay on the ground, according to The Times of Israel.

Police released footage of the attack, which also showed bruises on the right side of the nun’s face. Video that circulated online shows Jewish bystanders came to the nun’s aid when the attacker returned to kick her. 

The attack took place last week in front of the Cenacle, a building on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion that is sacred to both Christians and Jews. The site is regarded as the burial site of the biblical King David and also believed to be the site of Jesus' Last Supper with His disciples before his Crucifixion. 

The suspect was wearing tzitzit, a Jewish ritual undergarment worn by observant men.

Olivier Poquillon, director of the French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research, known by its French acronym ÉBAF, told AFP the victim is a researcher at the institution and said she did not wish to speak publicly about the assault.

Israel Police reportedly said it viewed “with utmost severity” any violent act driven by potentially racist motives and directed at members of the clergy, adding that it would request an extension of the suspect’s remand.

France “strongly condemned” the attack and called for the perpetrator to be brought to justice.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry called it a “shameful act” that stood “in direct contradiction to the values of respect, coexistence, and religious freedom upon which Israel is founded.”

The Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem issued a statement calling the attack “a direct assault on the fundamental values of Jerusalem” and warning it was part of “a troubling pattern of rising hostility toward the Christian community and its symbols.”

A European diplomatic source in Jerusalem told Times of Israel that the assault on the nun “occurred in a context where anti-Christian acts have become commonplace, with insults and spitting by [Jewish] extremists targeting clergy in religious dress on a daily basis.” 

The attack comes amid heightened tensions between Christian communities in Israel and state institutions.

Last month, images of an Israeli Defense Forces soldier smashing a statue of Jesus in a village in southern Lebanon spread widely online and drew condemnation from religious and civic groups. The two soldiers involved were subsequently taken off combat duty and disciplined.

Police also briefly barred senior Catholic clergy from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher ahead of Easter, citing restrictions on large gatherings during the Iran conflict, though the clergy were later allowed in for the ceremony.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, an Evangelical Christian, criticized the Israeli government in the previous year for treating Christian organizations as “adversaries.”

Israel announced the appointment of its first special envoy to the Christian world, George Deek, on April 23.

“The State of Israel attaches great importance to its relations with the Christian world and with its Christian friends around the world,” stressed Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

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