Jerusalem Christians not surprised by attack on nun as abuse becomes routine [View all]

Priest says once-isolated incidents of ultra-Orthodox people spitting near them have become daily occurrences; 61 physical attacks recorded in 2025

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 occurrence.
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“Everyone said this would happen someday,” 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 were 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.”


https://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-christians-not-surprised-by-attack-on-nun-as-abuse-becomes-routine/