(IsraelNN.com) A prominent pro-Israel activist has been found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft in a San Francisco building where he was taking Arabic language classes. The body of Dr. Daniel Kliman was discovered on December 1. Although the death has been ruled an accident, Jewish activists and friends of the 38-year-old Bay Area pediatrician are skeptical.

Kliman was one of the loudest pro-Israel voices in the Bay Area and was the co-founder of the San Francisco Voice for Israel.

Brad Bernheim, manager of the historic Sharon Building where Kliman was found, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the body had apparently been at the bottom of the elevator shaft since Tuesday, November 25th. Arabic classes were cancelled for the day due to the Thanksgiving holiday, and the elevator was reported to be closed for repairs. Kliman was scheduled to fly to Israel on Thanksgiving Day as part of a pro-Israel mission with the Honest Reporting group.

Suspicions of Politically Motivated Homicide
One colleague of Dr. Kliman’s at the San Francisco Voice for Israel activist group, Faith Meltzer, told the newspaper that she intends to push police to investigate the matter until all chance of homicide is eliminated. Police investigators have said an initial probe has turned up no evidence of foul play.

“It’s hard for me to believe this wasn’t deliberate,” Meltzer said.

Two weeks prior to his death, Kliman was present at a pro-Israel concert organized on the University of California at Berkeley campus by the Zionist Freedom Alliance during Israel Liberation Week. Violence erupted at the concert between ZFA activists and the “Students for Justice in Palestine” organization. A local source said that SJP claimed to be the victims of a hate crime "after starting and losing the fight." Anti-Zionist tensions have continued to boil on campus, the source added.

Although not personally involved in the altercation, Kliman called upon all pro-Israel activists in the community to bring Israeli flags and stand with the Zionist students at Berkeley for an hour-a-day vigil.

Kliman was also known as a fervent environmentalist and was often seen bicycling around the Bay Area instead of taking rides. His body was to be flown to his hometown of Schenectady, New York for burial.