One of the progressive activists awaiting trial for last November’s attack on an Israeli-owned business in Merrimack is now on social media praising Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and posting messages calling Israelis “the scum of nations and pigs of the Earth.”
She’s also celebrating the violent protests on college campuses, urging “Two, three, many Columbias.”
Calla Walsh, a 19-year-old progressive activist from Massachusetts, has been described by The New York Times as “representative of an influential new force in Democratic politics.” In New Hampshire, she’s referred to as a “defendant” after a grand jury brought back charges of riot, burglary, and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief over her actions in a protest at the Elbit Systems facility.
Walsh and her fellow Palestine Action US activists broke windows, spattered paint, and ignited an incendiary device on the roof of the building, which an Israeli company owns.
With anti-Israel and openly antisemitic protests breaking out on the campuses of Columbia, MIT, Yale, and other Ivy League colleges, Walsh has joined in. And she’s made it clear she supports the goals of Hamas and other Islamists.
On X, Walsh posted a photo of what she calls the “liberated zone at Columbia,” featuring a “message to the scum of nations and pigs of the Earth: Paradise lies in the shadow of swords.”
The quote, Walsh notes, is from The Lion’s Den, which is a Palestinian resistance group made up of members of militant organizations like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“Children of Zion, wait for us inside your homes, in the settlements, and deep within the entity,” the Lion’s Den statement says, invoking “the truth of Allah Almighty.”
Walsh also posted a quote from Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida. “The enemy, whose pride we crushed in 60 minutes on Oct. 7th, could not achieve anything in 200 days.”
Walsh declined to respond to multiple requests for comment.
Allying with Islamist organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which prosecute homosexuals and enforce strict dress codes and rules of conduct on women, would appear to be at odds with the progressive politics of activists like Walsh and student protesters on campus. And yet they have embraced both the cause and demonstrated a willingness to use threats and even violence in their protests.
At Columbia University, for example, administrators ordered some Jewish faculty members to stay away from campus for their own safety, and students have been offered the option of remote classes rather than requiring Jewish students to run the gauntlet of protesters.
At MIT, students built a “Scientists Against Genocide” encampment on campus at Kresge Lawn in Cambridge, chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a message many Jewish organizations have labeled antisemitic. But anti-Israel campus activists at MIT have embraced it in the wake of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
MIT alum Gov. Chris Sununu (Class of ’98) isn’t impressed.
“The blatant antisemitism on display at America’s elite higher-education institutions is a disgrace and a byproduct of their unwillingness and inability to teach their students about these important issues in an educational, productive way,” Sununu said. “As a result of these schools’ abject failures, Jewish students are not able to live on campus and study freely without fear of discrimination and attacks. These colleges need to get their radical students under control, arrest those breaking the law, and focus on keeping all students safe.”
He’s not alone. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and a major donor to Columbia University, has announced he will withdraw his support.
“I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff, and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken,” he said in a statement.
And 27 GOP U.S. senators sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on them to “restore order to campuses that have been effectively shut down by antisemitic mobs that are targeting Jewish students.”
Elected officials across the U.S., horrified by the displays of antisemitism and violence, have suggested federal funding should be withheld from colleges and universities that can’t protect their students or refuse to restore order.
It’s an idea that appeals to the Republican candidates for Congress in New Hampshire.
“Israel was attacked and now has a right to defend itself,” said Chris Bright, one of the Republicans seeking the First Congressional District nomination. “How fortunate are these ‘brave’ protestors to naively yell their message from the safety of the United States.
“As the only combat veteran running in this race, I have seen war and genocide up close. It’s awful, and the Israelis did not ask for this. But now that they have been attacked, they have no choice but to see their way through to victory,” Bright added.
Hollie Noveletsky said she would support withholding funding “until colleges protect their Jewish students and hold bad actors accountable.”
“These students threatening Jewish teachers and students is horrifying. It stems from antisemitism and a more generalized hatred of Western and American values,” Noveletsky said. “Peaceful disagreement is not a bad thing. However, these threats of violence are unacceptable.”
And Russell Prescott asked, “Should we give money to Columbia while our law enforcement is dangerously underfunded? Or to Harvard, when social security bankruptcy is looming, and our country is $34, maybe $36 trillion in debt? We should be funding our problems at home, beginning at the border.”
Asked if he would consider denying some federal funds to campuses like Columbia and Yale, Rep. Chris Pappas (D) declined to answer the question.
The reaction was similar in the Second Congressional District, where neither Democrat seeking the nomination—state Sen. Becky Whitley and former Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern—would say whether they would withhold funding in response to the current campus protests.
The Republicans, on the other hand, were more than happy to respond.
“I will support withholding some federal funding for these universities, demanding answers from the presidents as to why they failed to protect Jewish students and faculty,” said Lily Tang Williams.
And the newest candidate in the race, Vikram Mansharamani, responded with a one-word email.
“YES!”
