UPDATED: ARREST IN 'MEGAPHONE MURDER' OF JEWISH MAN AT PALESTINIAN PROTEST
'CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS' OF LETHAL DUELING PROTESTS OVER 2023 ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR IN LOS ANGELES SUBURB
Killing of Paul Kessler, a Jewish-American counter-protester fatally injured in a confrontation with Palestinian-American demonstrators in Thousand Oaks, California, Nov. 5, 2023. Photo Credit: Screenshot via YouTube.
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The 2023 Israel-Hamas War has claimed another casualty. Not in Israel, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank or Lebanon, but in California.
Paul Kessler died on Monday after he was injured protesting against pro-Palestinian demonstrators at an intersection in a Los Angeles suburb on Sunday. The 69-year-old Jewish man joins a 6-year-old Palestinian boy in Michigan as another U.S. victim of the war killed on American soil.
The dueling Nov. 5 protests drew about 75 people and were organized on opposing sides of a high-traffic intersection in West Lake Village. What police characterized as a "confrontation" between the two sides left Kessler with a fractured skull and brain swelling, among other injuries.
Police said Kessler fell backward and hit his head, but what caused him to "fall" backward was not yet clear to investigators. It may have been a blow from a protester's megaphone, they added, confirming a claim by the Jewish Association of Greater Los Angeles.
"What exactly transpired prior to Mr. Kessler falling backward isn't crystal clear right now," Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff explained at a news conference on Tuesday.
Police have a suspect, he added, but "conflicting" eyewitness accounts "about what the altercation and who the aggressor was" are blocking an arrest. "Some of the witnesses were pro-Palestine, while others were pro-Israel."
The intersection in West Lake has been the scene of at least two other protests since the latest round of violence in the ongoing 75-year-old Israel-Palestinian conflict started Oct. 7. The county surrounding West Lake, Ventura, has seen a total of 21 protests.
"This was the only one so far that has had some kind of violent encounter at all," the sheriff said.
Video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, showed what the poster said was a pro-Palestinian protest at the intersection the weekend before Kessler was killed there.
"Look at it we got terrorists in West Lake Village," the poster says while filming video capturing a man leading about 15 people in an anti-Israel protest chant with a megaphone.
"Terrorists!," he yells at the group as he drives past them through the intersection.
While police don't know exactly what happened to Kessler yet, Fryhoof said, they do know "oftentimes our protesters use the crosswalk to make their voices heard and be seen." When that happens, there's "intermingling between sides."
"They're using the crosswalk to be seen and so that interaction is likely to occur."
Bystander video captured the scene soon after Kessler was mortally injured. He is lying faceup on the sidewalk next to the crosswalk. He's conscious but blood is flowing out of his mouth. Blood also appears to be coming out of the back of his head.
Meanwhile, two police officers are questioning a man sitting feet away who momentarily points to the victim. He appears to be the 50-year-old suspect—police refused to name him but said he was 50.
"The suspect was cooperative and indicated he was involved in an altercation with Mr. Kessler," Sheriff Fryhoff revealed. He said he "called 911 requesting medical attention for Mr. Kessler."
A Rabbi who knew Kessler and his wife, Cheryl, told the Los Angeles Times he was “a man committed to peace and committed to Israel."
Kyle Jorrey, former editor of the local newspaper, the Thousand Oaks Acorn, called Kessler "an ardent Democrat" on X. He "had a sharp wit” and "loved a good take down."
As Kessler lay dying, a pro-Palestinian protester comforted him.
She wore a headscarf and denim jacket with the Palestinian flag painted on its back. She knelt beside him and placed the brown cardboard protest sign she was carrying underneath his head, to cushion it from the concrete below.
Paramedics came and carried the man away in an ambulance. The blood-covered sign with a plea in black ink remained.
"STOP BOMBING BABIES + FAMILIES-a Pediatrician."
UPDATE: The Ventura County Sheriff's Office arrested 50-year-old Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and battery on Thursday, November 9, National Public Radio reported.
Sidewalk in Thousand Oaks, California, where counterprotester Paul Kessler was killed demonstrating against pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Photo Credit: screenshot via Twitter
Police asked the public to submit any video or images from that day. Sheriff Fryhoff asked anyone with information to contact Det. Corey Stump at (805) 384-4745 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at (800) 222-8477.
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