Muslim Community College Professor Pleads Guilty in 2023 Death of Jewish Man, Paul Kessler – RedState

(UPDATED AT 10:20 PM EDT, MAY 5, 2026: According to Loay Alnaji’s lawyerRon Bamieh, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Derek Malan said he would sentence Alnaji to one year in prison followed by three years of probation if he pleads guilty to all charges. Ventura County Prosecutor Erik Nasarenko’s office opposes this potential sentence and is seeking the maximum sentence for Alnaji. Kessler’s family also opposes the deal. Sentencing has not yet taken place and is scheduled for June 25, 2026. We are in the process of contacting Bamieh and the District Attorney’s Office, and obtaining all records from Tuesday morning’s hearing.)

ORIGINAL STORY

In an unscheduled court appearance Tuesday morning, Loay Alnaji, a Muslim community college professor and pro-Hamas agitator who attacked and killed a Jewish man during protests following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and battery causing great bodily injury, with serious felony and aggravating factors of use of weapons and vulnerable victim on both counts.

Alnaji faces up to four years in prison on each charge and will be sentenced in June.

On November 5, 2023, Alnaji was one of the leaders of a pro-Hamas demonstration in Thousand Oaks, California, organized by the Islamic Society of Simi Valley (ISSV), and Paul Kessler was one of the few pro-Israel counter-protesters. Alnaji hit Kessler in the face with a large metal bullhorn, causing Kessler to fall and fracture his skull. Kessler died approximately seven hours after the altercation.

DIVE DEEPER:

Pro-Hamas professor Loay Alnaji to stand trial, charged with manslaughter in death of Paul Kessler

VIDEO: Muslim leaders chant ‘Allahu Akbar’ at pro-Israel protesters with megaphone used in Kessler attack

At the time of Kessler’s death, Alnaji and his supporters claimed that Kessler was the aggressor and that he had “slipped.” They also claimed that Alnaji and his fellow agitators were simply peaceful protesters, but video released by RedState at the time contradicts that claim. Kessler and his fellow pro-Israeli counterprotesters were stationed in front of the pro-Hamas crowd, but the crowd crossed to come towards him and face him.

In this video, taken as Kessler was being loaded into an ambulance, you can hear the blatant anti-Semitism of the pro-Hamas agitators at 0:45: “Hitler didn’t want you, Hitler didn’t want you, Hitler didn’t want you, Hitler should have crushed you.” The man shouting into the bullhorn has been identified as Mamdouh Elalami, the 2023 ISSV Man of the Year. (Warning: strong language)

Elalami was joined in his anti-Semitic chants by ISSV Imam Shaykh Omar Jubran, the father of Simi Valley mayoral candidate and current Simi Valley Unified School District administrator Kareem Jubran. In the years following Kessler’s assassination, the ISSV gained city approval to significantly expand its mosque, despite vehement objections from neighbors.

Alnaji, a naturalized citizen originally from Jordan, has been on paid administrative leave from the Ventura County Community College District, where he was a computer science professor and faculty advisor for the Muslim Student Association, since his arrest in 2023.

According to court records, an amended information was filed by prosecutors in the case Tuesday morning. We have requested a copy and will update this story as more information becomes available.

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