A California man has been sentenced to one year behind bars in connection with the late 2023 death of a Jewish man following a confrontation between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji received a sentence of one year in Ventura County Jail, followed by two years of felony probation, for the November 2023 death of Paul Kessler, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Alnaji pleaded guilty in May to felony involuntary manslaughter and felony battery causing serious bodily injury.
According to prosecutors, Alnaji turned a verbal dispute with Kessler into a physical confrontation in November 2023 while both men were participating in demonstrations in California.
The incident occurred during dueling street rallies in Thousand Oaks, roughly 35 miles west of Los Angeles, where pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators had gathered.
MORE STORY: Daveigh Chase’s Final Days: Friends Searched Skid Row Before Her Tragic Death
Prosecutors said Alnaji hit Kessler in the head with a megaphone, causing him to fall and strike his head on the pavement. They noted that Alnaji remained at the scene, called 911 and later gave a statement to investigators.
Kessler later died from injuries suffered in the incident. Alnaji was arrested several days afterward and charged in connection with Kessler’s death.
The district attorney’s office had sought a state prison term and opposed the court’s decision to impose a one-year jail sentence with probation.
Rights advocates have warned about heightened threats to American Jews, Muslims and Arabs since the start of US ally Israel’s assault on Gaza after Hamas’ October 2023 attack.
Fatal incidents since then have raised alarm.
They include a 2023 deadly stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American child in Illinois whose killer was sentenced to 53 years in prison and died in custody; a 2026 shooting at a San Diego mosque that left five dead, including two teenage suspects; a 2025 fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington; and a 2025 Colorado fire-bomb attack that left one woman dead and in which the attacker was sentenced to life in prison.
