JERUSALEM: Footage of an attack on a Catholic nun in Jerusalem shocked the world when it went viral this week, but for worshippers attending Sunday mass at Saint Stephen’s Basilica, it was just the latest example of mounting religious hostility.

The attack on Tuesday was captured by CCTV and shared widely, showing a Jewish extremist shoving the nun to the ground and leaving, before returning to resume his attack on her, at which point bypassers intervened.

As the congregation poured out of the Sunday service, the story was still on everyone’s lips, as many offered words and tokens of support for the French nun, who was not in attendance.

“She still has pains” but she is “surrounded by support”, said the priest who led the service, Olivier Catel.

When Catel arrived in Jerusalem over a decade ago, such incidents were rare. Roughly once a year, he said, “when I went out in my habit, people — usually ultra-orthodox Jews — would spit behind our back.”

“We never paid attention because they were isolated incidents,” he said. But for the past three or four years, it has become something of a daily occurence.

“When we go out, people spit next to us.”

The Rossing Center, a Jerusalem-based association for inter-religious dialogue, has documented “growing harassment” of Christians in Israel and east Jerusalem, according to a study released in March.

Throughout 2025, it recorded 61 physical attacks, including spitting, the use of pepper spray and blows. It also recorded 28 cases of verbal harassment and 52 cases of defacement of church property.

A British priest who preferred to remain anonymous confirmed that such incidents occurred daily. He never went out without his black robes, and was invariably met with spitting or shouts of “go home!” in his direction.

‘He should be killed’

“Everyone said this would happen some day,” said Pierre, a 30-year-old parishioner, who was “not surprised” by the incident and in fact expected things to escalate to a possible death if there was no intervention. The day of the attack on the nun, a priest he knew was in the supermarket when a man stopped before him.

“He told his son, in Hebrew, ‘he should be killed’,” said Pierre.

“If nothing is done… someone will take that step.” The attack occurred a few steps away from the Old City of Jerusalem, the flashpoint of tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at the foot of the Church of the Dormition.

A young Israeli who said he witnessed the incident from a distance described the attacker as “a madman”.

Israeli media had described the assailant as a far-right activist with a history of mental illness.

“It’s very shocking,” said Uriel Levisohn, a 28-year-old rabbi, who expressed disbelief at how commonplace such incidents have become.

“With God’s help, this will be the last time something like this happens here.” But worshippers leaving the mass were less hopeful, saying they were waiting for a firm response from the Israeli authorities.

They pointed to increasingly “supremacist” rhetoric in the country, including among senior officials.

They recalled recent incidents in southern Lebanon, where Israel is fighting militant group Hezbollah, and where an Israeli soldier was filmed destroying a statue of Jesus.

Catel nonetheless said he refused to “live in fear”.

“I continue to go to the Old City in my robes,” he said, adding that while he avoided certain neighbourhoods, “overall, I haven’t changed my habits”.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2026