Travesty of Justice: Arab Immigrant Sentenced to 365 Days in Jail for Taking Jewish Senior Citizen's Life in CA
Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, a 53-year-old Jordanian college professor, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter relating to a 2023 protest in Thousand Oaks, California, where he struck a pro-Israel protestor in the head with a megaphone.
The man, 69-year-old Paul Kessler, fell back to the ground and was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
Alnaji entered a guilty plea of involuntary manslaughter, as the VC Star reported, with Ventura County Superior Court Judge Derek Malan sentencing him to one year in jail followed by two years of probation on Tuesday.
That’s a miscarriage of justice, gifting Alnaji an incredibly light sentence for being responsible for taking someone’s life.
According to Fox News, the medical examiner determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma, for which the Jordanian was initially facing four years.
The 50-year-old Jordanian immigrant Loay Alnaji has been sentenced to 1 year in a county jail for killing the 69-year-old Jewish-American Paul Kessler near Los Angeles on November 5th 2023 for opposing a pro-Hamas rally a month after the October 7th Massacre.
Loay crossed a… pic.twitter.com/yz6HmH5Cpp
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 1, 2026
The defense downplayed the circumstances of the altercation to their client’s great benefit.
This was 2023; the country saw widespread protests erupt over Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel. Kessler was a Jewish man, protesting that day for Israel. Alnaji is an Arab, described by Fox News as an “anti-Israel community college professor.”
Defense attorney Ron Bamieh said of the incident, “Two old guys had a dispute and an accident happened,” which greatly omits the political, cultural, and historical context of that day.
District Attorney Erik Nasarenko was not as kind.
“Alnaji should be sentenced to prison for his violent behavior, and our office strongly objects to any lesser sentence,” he said.
“While no amount of punishment will ever fully account for the Kessler family loss, a prison commitment underscores the severity of this crime and will deter others from committing similar acts of violence.”
Eyewitness accounts are apparently contradictory regarding who was the aggressor. The defense tried to explain Kessler’s death as being due to a pre-existing brain stem condition.
Alnaji was going to stand trial, but Bamieh indicated he made the right decision.
“Mr. Alnaji made a thoughtful decision today, one guided by his family’s well-being and a deep concern for community peace. The tragedy that befell Mr. Kessler, compounded by the geopolitical tensions surrounding Israel and Gaza, led Mr. Alnaji to reconsider pursuing a full trial.”
He tried to paint Kessler in a confrontational light through his history at protests.
“The evidence regarding Mr. Kessler’s aggressive conduct, his history of advocating violence and antagonistic tactics at pro-Palestinian rallies, and most critically, his brain stem condition — all of these facts would likely have shifted the outcome of a trial.”
Jonathan Oswaks was Kessler’s friend and was present the day of his death. He stated their side was outnumbered.
“When I tell you I had never experienced that level of hate in my life, I hadn’t,” he said. “I told them to get out of my space. They backed off briefly, then started again. I made it clear they needed to stay away, and eventually they did.”
The Cleveland Jewish News spoke to Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at the Lawfare Project, who said “to call this sentence an outrage doesn’t do it justice.”
“It exposes major flaws in the criminal justice system that need to be addressed — from the prosecutor declining to charge this as the hate crime it was and undercharging conduct that should have carried a mandatory term, to a judge whose slap-on-the-wrist sentencing is taken by many to devalue Jewish life.”
California is becoming notorious for erroneous rulings.
Imagine a pro-Palestine protestor being clubbed over the head and dying. Swift justice in this deep-blue state would be doled out with hate crime charges and a life sentence.
There’s no indication Alnaji had a change of heart. After serving his time, what’s keeping him from being back on the street ready to commit the crime again?
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