Pro-Palestinian protester ‘stalked’ Paul Kessler before alleged fatal punch: witness
The Jewish man who died following a supposed clash between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters in California was “stalked” by his alleged attacker, who then struck him with a megaphone moments before his fatal fall, a witness said.
“[The man] crossed the street because, as I said, he stalked us … he came over here with the megaphone in his hand to do the same thing,” Jonathan Oswaks said Tuesday of how the man he claims attacked Paul Kessler on Sunday afternoon first approached him and put a megaphone against his ear, according to the Jewish Journal.
When Oswaks, 69, warned the man to “‘get that f–ing thing out of my ear,’” the would-be attacker moved on to Kessler, also 69, who was standing across the street with an Israeli flag, Oswaks alleged.
“Then all of a sudden, I see a punch. The reason I know I could see the punch was because it was the white megaphone flying through the air,” he claimed.
Kessler is then believed to have fallen backward and sustained serious head injuries. He was taken to the hospital, where he died early Monday.
“I was broken when I heard [of his death],” Oswaks told the Los Angeles Times.
Oswaks, who is Jewish and works as an engineer, said he met Kessler just a couple weeks earlier through the Nextdoor app.
The pair counter-protested a pro-Palestinian demonstration together on Oct. 29, when they were pushed into the street by an aggressive protester who then flashed a gun at them, Oswaks claimed.
Oswaks said he could not identify the culprit to police because the demonstrators had changed their masks and hoods.
Undeterred, Oswaks and Kessler organized a larger showing at a pro-Palestinian protest on Sunday.
While the men waited by a fountain at the appointed intersection, Oswaks got a call from a friend who said that his face was in a social media live and that he was “being watched,” he alleged on Tuesday.
Oswaks said he looked up and saw three men sitting on a bench, filming them.
“One of those men I recognize as the murderer,” he claimed. “The other man was an extreme agitator. The other fellow was just a young fellow, I couldn’t tell much about him.”
Oswaks and Kessler then met with Kessler’s friend, who brought an Israeli flag, an American flag and a Gadsden flag, he explained.
“Paul insisted on holding the Israeli flag,” Oswaks recalled.
“I asked him at least three times to give it to me. Paul was a lot smaller than I am. He was like David. He was proud to hold that flag against the giant.
“[Paul also warned me] at these kinds of protests, somebody taking a megaphone and putting in your ear for purposes of harassing you is an assault.”
The men decided to split up around the intersection, he continued.
“It wasn’t long before the men that were videoing me and Paul stood behind me … with a megaphone in my ear, exactly the way [Kessler] told me it was gonna happen,” Oswaks claimed.
When Oswaks asked the man to back up, the offender offered him water or food.
“[I said] ‘I don’t want a f–ing thing from you except space. Get back,’” he claimed.
Just moments later, Oswaks said, the man crossed the street and was subsequently involved in the altercation with Kessler.
“The megaphone came over the top [of the group],” he told the press conference.
“Maybe 10 people … close ranks really quick to see what was going on, so it obscured my vision.”
Oswaks claimed he did not know Kessler was injured until later.
Speaking from the scene of the alleged punch on Tuesday, he criticized authorities’ response to the incident.
“Where is the megaphone? Why didn’t the police collect the megaphone? Why didn’t the police collect the Israeli flag? What are the police doing?” he insisted.
At a press conference earlier Tuesday, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff declined to comment on whether a megaphone was taken from the scene or believed to have been involved in Kessler’s injury.
A 50-year-old man from Moorpark was briefly detained while police executed a search warrant on Monday, but no one has been arrested or charged in connection with Kessler’s death, Fryhoff added.
Though the medical sales rep’s injuries were consistent with falling backwards, he also had injuries to his face that “could be consistent with a blow,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Christopher Youngs said.
“This is the same bulls— that’s happening in our streets. They’re letting people go through our shopping centers, destroying them,” Oswaks said.
“The police presence is nowhere to be found. Nowhere! None of you are safe. I don’t know if you even realize that. It’s not being reported on the news. Hopefully this will get the trick done.”
Oswaks was joined at the Tuesday presser by people holding signs demanding the release of the 240 Israeli hostages who have been held by Hamas since Oct. 7, the Jewish Journal reported.
There were also people holding Israeli and American flags, while flowers and yahrzeit candles marked the spot where Kessler fell, the outlet added.
Earlier this in the day, Elena Colomba — a recent convert to Judaism — spent hours marking the bloodstained spot where Kessler lay waiting for the ambulance with a Star of David drawn in blue chalk, reporter Jacob Gurvia wrote on X.
“We in the Jewish community have been saying over and over again for the last 30 days that what is happening on our streets, what is happening in social media, what is happening in our schools and what is happening on our campuses is intolerable and unsustainable,” Israeli-American Council CEO Elan Carr said at the presser.
“And we have also been saying that if this continues unabated, someone is going to die.
“By the way, my friend and colleague Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said those words three nights ago: if this continues someone is going to die. And here we are today.”
Carr argued that Kessler had a First Amendment right to protest holding an Israeli flag.
“For that act… Paul paid the ultimate price: he paid with his life,” he said.
“We are here today not only to bear witness to what happened but to make demands… enough is enough. We’re done with attacks against Jews…all people of goodwill [should] come together in total unity against this despicable and vicious rise in hate.”
