69‑year-old Jewish man dies following a dispute with protesters in California
The Ventura County Sheriff's Office in California has reported the death of a 69-year-old man of Jewish descent, stemming from injuries he endured during Sunday's protests in Thousand Oaks. The office is investigating his death as a potential hate crime.
3:41 PM EST, November 7, 2023
According to ABC7, an altercation broke out when a young protester at the demonstration hit the senior man on his head with a megaphone.
The "Los Angeles Times", referencing law enforcement agents, stated that the victim, Kessler, was counter-protesting at the pro-Palestinian demonstration. He was allegedly hit on the head and then fell, although the sheriff's spokesperson did not confirm or deny what caused him to stumble.
A video shared on social media, thought to have captured the incident, shows a man prone on the ground, showing symptoms of a head injury. Two individuals, one of them a woman wearing a jacket emblazoned with the slogan "Free Palestine", can be seen rushing to his aid.
Kessler was known to have attended protest rallies before, confirmed family friend Justin Cohen to "The Post" on Monday evening. He highlighted that Kessler had been to another demonstration following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.
The investigation into the incident is currently active, with no arrests made thus far. Authorities are in pursuit of additional footage from the event to comprehensively examine the incident's details.
Amy Spitalnick, Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, alleges that the number of anti-Semitic acts has surged since the eruption of the conflict between Hamas and Israel in the past month.
