Man Sentenced to Just One Year in County Jail in Death of Pro-Israel Protester
A pro-Palestinian protester was sentenced to one year in county jail and two years of probation on Tuesday after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and battery in the death of a Jewish man who he attacked at a California rally.
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Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, a professor at the local Moorpark College, struck 69-year-old Paul Kessler in the head with his megaphone at dueling pro-Israel and pro-Hamas demonstrations in November of 2023, weeks after the October 7 attack. Kessler then fell backwards and struck his head on the ground, and died the next day.
The district attorney’s office for Ventura County objected to Alnaji’s sentence, arguing that he should be sentenced to state prison.
“Given the circumstances of this case and the death that resulted, we believe a state prison commitment was the appropriate and just sentence,” said District Attorney Erik Nasarenko.
Video footage of the incident shows pro-Hamas demonstrators crossing the street to confront Kessler, who was waving an Israeli flag. The district attorney’s office alleges that Alnaji escalated a verbal confrontation with Kessler, and struck him with the megaphone. A medical examination determined that Kessler sustained injuries to the chin, mouth, and eyes.
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“There are no words to describe the pain of losing a husband in such a sudden and violent way,” Kessler’s widow wrote in a statement to the court.
Alnaji was not charged with a hate crime, though the Ventura County Sheriff told reporters that they had not ruled it out.
Moorpark College, which is where Alnaji taught computer science, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the arrest, Fox News reported that Alnaji had shared a video on Instagram that compared the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas to civil rights leaders Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
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