RedState managing editor Jennifer Van Laar has been a tour de force for decades and deep sourcing as a rare California conservative, so it was no surprise when she released a series of stories and videos this week showing the raw aftermath of an attack against a 69-year-old Jewish man named Paul Kessler that resulted in Kessler’s bloody death after he was knocked down and his skull met the pavement.
Not surprisingly, none of this shoestring reporting was picked up by the liberal broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC as they’re likely terrified about a rise in Islamophobia or, at minimum, a lecturing by the radical Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
In her Tuesday piece “BREAKING: Videos From Pro-Hamas Rally Where Paul Kessler Was Killed Show Just How Vile His Attackers Are”, van Laar revealed that, “[a]ccording to an eyewitness who spoke to RedState on condition of anonymity due to fears for their family's safety, it appeared that Kessler was targeted by members of the pro-Hamas group who had protested at the same corner the Sunday prior, possibly because police were called at that time after one of the pro-Hamas agitators brandished a gun.”
Van Laar took readers into the day’s events using her sources, including one eyewitness telling her that, in her words, a “man who confronted Kessler...hit him in the head with the bullhorn” after a group of pro-Hamas protesters broke off from the main gathering of like-minded individuals and went over to Kessler had been standing and waving an Israeli flag.
She noted amid a slew of videos provided there were contrasting claims with, not surprisingly, the pro-Hamas eyewitnesses telling police that Kessler fell and was an accident (click “expand”):
In this video, a different witness tells law enforcement that Kessler was "decked" but a Hamas supporter tells officers that Kessler "slipped."
[VIDEO]
This video is long, but shows the suspect speaking to police after Kessler is taken away in the ambulance. The protesters continue to chant; at the 3:45 mark you hear, "You will burn in hell; Israel will burn in hell."
[VIDEO]
In this video, at 2:45, you can hear law enforcement asking the suspect, "So you tried to hit his phone"?
[VIDEO]
In this video you can hear the pro-Hamas agitators' blatant antisemitism at the :45 mark: "Hitler didn't want you, Hitler didn't want you, Hitler didn't want you, Hitler should've smashed you."
[VIDEO]
Hours later, Van Laar had another bombshell as she confirmed in her reporting the identity of the man in question who’s alleged to have been the person with said bullhorn:
In an earlier report...we noted that through our investigative work we'd identified the person we believe struck Kessler with a megaphone was a local college professor who was involved with that school's Muslim Student Association. Now we can confirm that man, Loay Alnaji, is indeed the person law enforcement officers have interviewed in connection with the case.
She went through Alnaji’s background, including his post as a processor at California State University, Northridge and that his Instagram page included an October 17 video from a Muslim social media influencer who “compared Hamas to legendary civil rights movements.”
And, on Wednesday, Van Laar was back with another piece spotlighting comments from the friend of Kessler who said the alleged pro-Hamas thugs were “stalk[ing] us” ahead of his friend’s suffering of blunt force trauma to the head.
To see all of Van Laar’s work, go here.
