A California man has been handed a one-year jail sentence in connection with the death of a Jewish man during a clash between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters in late 2023.
Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji was sentenced to one year in Ventura County Jail along with two years of felony probation for the November 2023 death of Paul Kessler. Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced the sentence in a statement Wednesday.
Alnaji entered a guilty plea in May to felony involuntary manslaughter and felony battery causing serious bodily injury, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Alnaji turned a verbal dispute with Kessler into a physical confrontation during competing street demonstrations in Thousand Oaks — a community located roughly 35 miles west of Los Angeles. The two men were participating in opposing pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli rallies at the time.
During the altercation, Alnaji hit Kessler in the head with a megaphone, causing Kessler to fall and strike his head on the pavement. Prosecutors noted that Alnaji remained at the scene, dialed 911, and gave a statement to investigators. Kessler later died from the injuries he sustained. Alnaji was taken into custody within days and formally charged with causing Kessler’s death.
Prosecutors pushed for a state prison term and formally objected to the court’s decision to impose the one-year jail sentence combined with probation rather than a harsher punishment.
Civil rights advocates have raised concerns about a surge in threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab Americans since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
A series of deadly incidents has deepened those concerns. Among them: a 2023 fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American child in Illinois, whose killer was sentenced to 53 years in prison and later died in custody; a 2026 shooting at a San Diego mosque that left five people dead, including two teenage suspects; a 2025 shooting that killed two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington; and a 2025 fire-bomb attack in Colorado that killed one woman, with the attacker receiving a life sentence.
