A California college professor accused in the death of a 69-year-old Jewish man during a 2023 anti-Israel protest will avoid a trial after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, 54, of Moorpark, admitted Tuesday to felony involuntary manslaughter and felony battery causing serious bodily injury in connection with the death of Paul Kessler Hy’d, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.

Alnaji, who teaches computer science at Moorpark College, and Kessler had attended opposing demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war in Thousand Oaks in 2023 when prosecutors say Alnaji hit Kessler in the head with a megaphone during the confrontation.

Authorities said the impact caused Kessler to collapse onto the pavement, where he suffered a fatal head injury.

As part of the plea agreement, Alnaji acknowledged “aggravating factors that he used a weapon and that the victim was particularly vulnerable” and that he had “personally inflicted great bodily injury to Kessler,” prosecutors said.

Although he pleaded guilty, Alnaji is expected to receive formal probation and could spend up to one year in jail, according to the district attorney’s office. He had originally faced a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

“Alnaji should be sentenced to prison for his violent behavior, and our office strongly objects to any lesser sentence,” Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said in a statement.

“While no amount of punishment will ever fully account for the Kessler family loss, a prison commitment underscores the severity of this crime and will deter others from committing similar acts of violence.”

“Mr. Alnaji made a thoughtful decision today, one guided by his family’s well-being and a deep concern for community peace,” Alnaji’s attorney, Ron Bamieh, told The Post.

“The tragedy that befell Mr. Kessler, compounded by the geopolitical tensions surrounding Israel and Gaza, led Mr. Alnaji to reconsider pursuing a full trial,” he added.

Bamieh argued that Kessler approached Alnaji during the protest and “thrust a cellphone in his face while making inflammatory accusations.”

According to the defense attorney, Alnaji had only intended to knock the phone away when he struck Kessler in the head.

“Mr. Kessler suffered from an epidermoid cyst located on his brain stem—a rare condition that had previously caused balance problems and contributed to his falling weeks before the confrontation, witnessed by multiple people,” Mr. Bamieh added.

Bamieh said the central dispute at trial would have focused on whether Kessler’s fall was caused by the blow or by the preexisting medical condition.

Alnaji remains free on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on June 25.