Jewish man dies hours after he was injured at clashing protests outside LA
The victim, Paul Kessler, was hit in the head with a megaphone, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
By Louis Keene November 6, 2023
This is a developing story.
Law enforcement officials said late Monday that a Jewish man was killed during an altercation at dueling pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel rallies in a Los Angeles suburb the day before. The Ventura County Sheriff’s office is investigating the death as a possible homicide and said it has “not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime.”
According to a Sheriff’s Department statement, released Monday evening, Paul Kessler, 69, died from “blunt force head injury” caused by the altercation. The demonstrations were in Thousand Oaks, California, — a city about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles — from which several callers had reported the incident.
“Witness accounts indicated that Kessler was involved in a physical altercation with counter-protestor(s),” the department said. “During the altercation, Kessler fell backwards and struck his head on the ground. Kessler was transported to an area hospital for advanced medical treatment” and died from his injuries the next day.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner described “the manner of death homicide” by blunt force head trauma. He clarified the next day that this doesn’t necessarily mean that a crime took place, but that Kessler died “at the hands” of another person.
NEW: Statement from Ventura County Sheriff's Department about death of Paul Kessler, 69.
Deputies responded to the scene of a "physical altercation."
County Medical Examiner ruled cause of death is blunt force head injury and manner of death homicide.
Sheriff investigating. pic.twitter.com/dRhfviMFId
— Louis Keene (@thislouis) November 7, 2023
‘Conflicting reports’
A video of Kessler, lying on the ground, his head bleeding, circulated on social media Monday afternoon. In a five-second clip, a woman carrying a cardboard sign and wearing a jacket emblazoned with “Free Palestine” seems to bend over to assist him. Another clip shows Kessler, his head heavily bandaged but sitting up and seemingly conscious, being lifted into an ambulance.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles said Kessler died after being “struck in the head by a megaphone wielded by a pro-Palestinian protestor.”
According to Rabbi Yossi Eilfort, director of Magen Am, a Jewish community security service, Kessler was part of a pro-Israel contingent that went to a pro-Palestinian protest that was held at the intersection of Westlake Boulevard and Thousand Oaks Boulevard. The Ventura County Sheriff described it as a “pro-Israeli / pro-Palestinian event” held simultaneously.
It was unclear whether any incident report was taken or arrests made. According Rabbi Michael Barclay, head of Temple Ner Simcha in Westlake Village, the chief of police of Thousand Oaks and the Ventura County sheriff described to him conflicting reports about what had happened.
Some witnesses said Kessler had been struck by a megaphone, Barclay said, but others reported a verbal altercation involving Kessler that never turned physical. On Tuesday law enforcement said they could not confirm that he was hit by a megaphone but were looking into the allegation.
“The fact of the matter is there is now a Jewish man who is dead,” Rabbi Noah Farkas, chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, told The New York Times. “And here we are again as a Jewish community, frightened, terrified to express ourselves, to be ourselves.”
The Times said that Kessler lived in Thousand Oaks, and that mourners brought flowers to a gas station near the site of the protest and lit candles in his memory.
Rabbi Barclay said demonstrators have shown up at that intersection every Sunday for at least the last three weeks, typically 100 to 200 pro-Palestinian protesters, and a smaller pro-Israel contingent. He said he did not know Kessler personally, but that he had attended High Holidays services at Ner Simcha in 2016 and 2018.
The sheriff’s office plans a news conference on the incident on Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time.
As the Rabbi in Westlake, I just got off the phone with the Chief of Police. As of 5:42pm, this is the situation: They have conflicting reports of what happened, and they did interview the susoect that is identified in social media at the event. They have no video
— Rabbi Michael Barclay (@Rabbi_Barclay) November 7, 2023
A backdrop of war
Kessler’s death occurred a month into a war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which began after the terror group invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400, wounding thousands more and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza have resulted in the deaths of more than 10,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Throughout the war, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters and counter-protesters have clashed in cities across the nation and the world, as incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia have spiked. While other physical altercations and assaults have taken place surrounding protests or the hanging of posters of the hostages, Kessler’s is believed to be the first death reported in relation to a protest about the war.
The federation’s statement also referenced previous antisemitic incidents in the area this year, including the arrest of a man in February who shot two men outside their synagogues. On Oct. 26, a man was arrested after breaking into a Jewish family’s home and saying he wanted to kill Jews. The suspect in that case did not injure anyone.
“We remind you that this is the fourth major antisemitic crime committed in Los Angeles this year alone,” the statement said. “Violence against our people has no place in civilized society. We demand safety. We will not tolerate violence against our community. We will do everything in our power to prevent it.”
JTA contributed to this story.
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