French police are said to have ruled out an antisemitic motive after a 90-year-old Jewish man in Lyon was allegedly pushed to his death from an apartment block on Tuesday night.
A 51-year-old neighbour was arrested over the death of Rene Hadjaj.
According to JTA, prosecutors told a local newspaper, Le Progres the suspect had pushed Mr Hadjaj out of the residential building after an argument between them. While police investigated a possible antisemitic motive, they have since excluded it and said the dispute was unconnected to Mr Hadjaj’s Jewish identity.
Five years ago a retired Jewish doctor, Sarah Halimi, was attacked in her third-floor apartment and her body thrown from the window. Her killer, Kobili Traore, was heard to have called her a “Satan” and cried “Allah Akhbar” during his attack.
