69-year-old Jewish man dies after altercation with pro-Palestinian protesters in California

A 69-year-old Jewish man died on Monday after falling and hitting his head during an altercation with pro-Palestinian protesters in California, according to authorities and Jewish leaders. 

Paul Kessler succumbed to injuries sustained at dueling demonstrations on Sunday in Thousand Oaks and authorities are investigating his death as a possible hate crime, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.

Kessler, an Israel supporter, was involved in a scuffle with pro-Palestinian protesters around 3:20 p.m. when he suffered a head injury from falling to the ground, authorities and family friends said.

An autopsy conducted Monday determined the manner of death was a homicide, and the cause of death was blunt force head injury, the sheriff’s office said.

Local rabbi, Moshe Bryski, from Chabad of Agoura Hills, told The Post Kessler’s death was “just a tragedy.”

Kessler’s wife was “in a state of total shock” when he called her this morning, he noted. Kessler was a counter-protester to a pro-Palestinian demonstration, he said. 

“You don’t expect people to go to a rally and not come home,” Bryski said.

The investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been announced. The incident has not been ruled out as a hate crime, the sheriff’s office said.

Footage circulating on social media of the purported incident shows a man lying on the ground with an apparent head injury as two people, including a woman with a jacket emblazoned with “Free Palestine,” come to his aid.

A family friend of Kessler’s, Justin Cohen, said Monday night the rally attended by Kessler was the second one he attended since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.

Cohen, a 38-year-old lawyer, said he was “shocked and devastated” by the sudden death.

“I’ve never known him to have a modicum of violence in him in his entire life,” Cohen said.

“He was not a closet Zionist – he wore it like a badge of honor,” Cohen also said. “He was a proud Jew and proud Israel supporter.”