Light sentence for Paul Kesslers killer sends wrong message on antisemitism

Late last month, the man who killed Paul Kessler was sentenced to serve a lenient 365-day term in county jail for his brutal and deadly assault during a peaceful pro-Israel rally in 2023. On Nov.5, 2023, the 69-year-old Kessler went to a protest in Ventura County.

He came to exercise his right to free speech, as every American has the right to do.Twenty-nine days after Hamas massacred approximately 1,200 people in Israel, with Jewish communities across the country still reeling, Kessler decided to show up. A counter-protester struck Kessler in the face with a megaphone, and Kessler died three days later of blunt force trauma. While we respect the court’s decision and appreciate the efforts by the justice system, particularly the district attorney and Ventura County sheriff, to hold the perpetrator accountable, the sentence feels inadequate. Whatever the killer’s motivation, the intentional targeting of Jews impacts our communities deeply.

Inadequate public responses to such violent crimes leave the American Jewish community feeling deeply insecure and fearful. It is especially concerning that the court spent much of the sentencing hearing expressing dismay with the letters received from the Jewish community, and asking the District Attorney’s Office to make a statement correcting the perceptions of the 132 community members who felt compelled to express how this woefully inadequate sentence would impact them.Despite the court’s pointed statements about the Jewish community, the judge never once expressed dismay at the defendant who took Paul Kessler’s life.

The judge merely asked the defendant to stay late to sign some paperwork. The attacker’s attorney described the incident as a simple altercation between two older men.It was not.

Kessler, and the pro-Israel activists alongside him, were vastly outnumbered.The defendant was 20 years his junior. According to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Off...