A man was sentenced in the death of Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jewish man who was protesting amid simultaneous pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protests.
On Monday, Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji was sentenced to one year in county jail and two years of probation after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for Kessler’s death. The Ventura County district attorney asked the judge to sentence Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji to two years in prison.
Freddy was in the courtroom for the sentencing. He told KNX News’ Emily Valdez he didn’t think Alnaji’s sentence was appropriate.
“It just always seems when every time a Jewish person is a victim of a crime, we get the short end of the stick,” he said.
In early November 2023. Alnaji and Kessler were in opposing protests on the corner of Thousand Oaks and Westlake Blvd. The two men got into a heated confrontation and Alnaji struck Kessler in the head with a megaphone, causing Mr. Kessler to fall to the ground and hit his head on the pavement. Kessler later died.
Alnaji's attorney Ron Bamieh told Valdez that Kessler’s death was an accident.
“This has nothing to do with his religion or Mr. Alnaji's religion,” he said. “It has nothing to do with Hamas. It has nothing to do with Israel. These were two people who got heated at each other and somebody swatted out a phone and hit somebody in the face. That's all that this was.”
Alnaji his set to begin his jail sentence in August.
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