A Jerusalem court has acquitted on grounds of insanity Yona Simcha Schreiber, the 36-year-old Israeli settler who on April 28 violently attacked a French Catholic nun on Mount Zion, near the Old City of Jerusalem. The judge found it proven that Schreiber committed the assault, but accepted the psychiatric report concluding that he was in a psychotic state and could not understand or control his actions.
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court ordered his commitment to a psychiatric hospital for a maximum of six years, the maximum period provided for the seriousness of the acts attributed to him. The Israeli prosecution had sought his conviction for an assault motivated by hostility toward a religious group.
Read also: Israeli citizen arrested for assaulting a nun in Jerusalem
The court finds the attack proven
The ruling, handed down on Wednesday, August 26, establishes that the evidence shows Schreiber carried out the acts described in the indictment. However, Judge Ophir Tischler accepted the conclusions of the district psychiatrist, according to which the defendant was suffering from a psychotic state at the time of the events and was not criminally responsible.
Schreiber, a resident of Peduel, an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank, had been formally charged in May with assault motivated by hostility toward a religious group.
The six-year psychiatric commitment constitutes the maximum applicable in this case and is reserved for acts considered serious. However, the competent psychiatric committee may later reduce that period based on the patient’s clinical progress.
According to information released after the ruling, Schreiber was admitted to the psychiatric center on Monday, two days before the court made its decision public.
Attorney Zaki Sahlia, representing the nun, expressed his disagreement with the judicial outcome.
“We would have preferred the assailant to be found criminally responsible and punished for his actions,” the lawyer stated. He added that the acquittal and forced commitment “do not diminish the seriousness of the attack or the suffering” endured by the victim.
The nun was attacked from behind and kicked on the ground
The assault occurred on April 28 near the Tomb of King David and the Cenacle, on Mount Zion. The victim, a 48-year-old French nun, works as a researcher at the prestigious École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, an institution run by the Dominicans.
Security cameras recorded the attack. The footage shows Schreiber running up behind the nun and pushing her violently. The woman fell and hit her head on a stone surface.
The assailant initially walked away, but returned while the nun was still on the ground and kicked her. A passerby intervened to stop the assault.
The Israeli police later released images showing the head wound suffered by the nun. Schreiber was arrested the same day.
Attacks against Christians increase in Jerusalem
The assault on the nun occurred amid a rise in attacks and acts of harassment against Christians in Israel, especially in Jerusalem.
A report by the Religious Freedom Data Center documented 83 anti-Christian incidents between April and June 2026, compared to 44 recorded during the first three months of the year. Ten of the cases involved threats or physical assaults.
Read also: Attacks against Christians in Israel double: spitting, assaults, and threats increase in Jerusalem
Of the 83 incidents recorded during the second quarter, 68 occurred in Jerusalem and 46 in the Old City. More than half consisted of spitting directed at Christians, a practice that particularly affects priests, religious, and people displaying visible signs of their faith.
The assault suffered by the French nun was included among the most serious episodes recorded during that period.