Metal ball that hit Paris woman dropped by child, not anti-Semitic attack

Watchdog finds incident that seriously injures woman, 79, outside a synagogue was an accident; French Jewish group had labeled it ‘assault’

By Cnaan Liphshiz 21 June 2019, 5:47 pm

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Cnaan Liphshiz was a Jewish World reporter at The Times of Israel

French soldiers patrol on January 21, 2015, in front of a synagogue in Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris, as part of France's national security alert system Vigipirate. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images)

JTA — The woman who was hit in the head with a metal ball outside a Paris Jewish center and synagogue did not suffer an anti-Semitic attack, a watchdog said.

The woman, 79, remains in the hospital with cranial damage and loss of blood after being injured Tuesday outside the center in the 11th district.

The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, on Friday said its investigation concluded the injury was the result of a young boy dropping the ball from an upper-floor apartment. The ball, about the size of a peach, is used in the bowling game petanque.

“The parents of this child discovered what had happened and called the synagogue’s administrators to offer the sincerest apologies,” BNVCA wrote in a statement.

CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish communities, on Twitter had characterized the woman’s injury as the result of a “violent assault,” labeling under the hashtag “anti-Semitism.”