Paul Kessler, a 65-year-old Jewish man, has died in Los Angeles after being assaulted by a pro-Palestinian Arab protester with a megaphone during demonstrations in the northern part of the city, Ynet reported on Monday.
According to the report, Los Angeles law enforcement confirmed on Monday that the Jewish man died as a result of a head injury after the pro-Palestinian Arab protester attacked him with a megaphone.
Witnesses at the scene said a verbal altercation broke out between Kessler and a young protester, when the protester struck the older man in the head with a megaphone he was holding.
Kessler fell to the ground, bleeding, and was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, likely due to a brain hemorrhage.
Israelis who were present at the scene told Ynet it was "a terrifying sight" and expressed shock that such an incident took place in their neighborhood.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles issued a statement on the incident on Monday, saying, “Our hearts are with the family of the victim. While we wait for more information from our law enforcement partners, we remind you that this is the fourth major antisemitic crime committed in Los Angeles this year alone.”
“Violence against our people has no place in civilized society,” it added. “We demand safety. We will not tolerate violence against our community. We will do everything in our power to prevent it.”
The incident was filmed on the attacker's mobile device and has been seized by local police as evidence in their investigation into the incident. Police have not provided further details on the investigation and would not specify whether the suspect was arrested.
US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, responded to the reports of the murder and said, “Enough is enough. The Biden administration must unequivocally condemn the violent antisemitism that is sweeping across the country. For the entire administration, at all levels, from Department of State staffers to his press secretary, Biden officials have proven incapable of simply condemning antisemitism without including other -isms and -phobias and downplaying the real threat to Jewish people from Hamas and its supporters all over the world. Democrats across the party including in Congress have been controlled by their antisemitic progressive base. The full force of the law and the administration has to be brought to bear against antisemitic violence.”
The incident comes amid a disturbing rise in antisemitism in the US, in the wake of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Two weeks ago, a man yelled "Free Palestine" as he was being taken into custody after trying to break into the home of a Jewish family in the Studio City area of Los Angeles.
Elsewhere in the US, a Jewish student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was assaulted on Friday night during a Shabbat event in honor of the hundreds of Israelis taken hostage by the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.
In Florida, a man was charged with calling a Jewish organization and threatening to kill Jewish people, after he allegedly called the World Jewish Congress in New York City and left a threatening voicemail.