US Police Investigate Death of Jewish Man at Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Israel Rallies

Facts

• Police in California are investigating the death of 69-year-old Paul Kessler, who died Monday after being injured in an altercation during simultaneous pro-Israel and pro-Palestine rallies on Sunday in Thousand Oaks, a community in the Los Angeles area.¹
• Kessler was reportedly attending the pro-Israel counterprotest to the scheduled pro-Palestine rally in which he became involved in an altercation before falling backward and hitting his head on the ground. Videos posted on social media show Kessler lying on the ground in a pool of blood.²
• The Ventura County Sheriff's Department said that initially a verbal altercation between a pro-Palestine demonstrator and Kessler occurred, with the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles alleging that a megaphone was then thrown at Kessler.³
• The County Medical Examiner's Office determined that Kessler's death was a homicide, with local authorities adding that it could be a hate crime, as Kessler was Jewish. The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles said it was 'devastated to learn of the tragic death of an elderly Jewish man.'⁴
• No arrests have been reported as of yet and authorities are still putting the details of the confrontation together. The Sheriff’s Department scheduled a news conference for Tuesday morning.⁵
• Kessler's death comes amid a climate of fear and tension — including Islamophobic and antisemitic attacks — in the US in the wake of the ongoing conflict in Gaza following Hamas's attack against Israel last month. Antisemitic incidents in particular were already on the rise before the Oct. 7 attack.⁶

Sources: ¹NBC, ²Daily Mail, ³FOX News, ⁴ABC News, ⁵Huffington Post and ⁶Vox.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The Jerusalem Post. This horrific assault and murder of an elderly Jewish man is beyond unacceptable. This incident shows that Hamas's murderous ideology and propaganda are contributing to a rising tide of antisemitism that's extremely problematic across the US and the Western world.
• Narrative B, as provided by Al Jazeera. This is clearly a tragic incident, but one shouldn't jump to conclusions before local authorities release a definitive statement on the results of the investigation. With emotions so high, it's necessary to take a step back and assess all available evidence.