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Jewish leaders and legislators were stunned to learn Tuesday that the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers union operating in New Hampshire, voted to break ties with the nation’s most prominent Jewish advocacy organization, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The NEA’s national Representative Assembly voted Sunday to approve a resolution stating the NEA “will not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), such as its curricular materials or statistics.”

The ADL has provided educational materials and classroom content to address antisemitism and teach about the Holocaust for years, and is generally viewed as a political ally of the left-leaning teachers’ union.

However, the ADL has also supported Israel during its war in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas. Additionally, it has denounced some pro-Palestinian protests that it says devolved into antisemitism. For example, the ADL has declared the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” an antisemitic call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

“Allowing the ADL to determine what constitutes antisemitism would be like allowing the fossil-fuel industry to determine what constitutes climate change,” said NEA delegate Stephen Siegel, according to the news outlet Mondoweiss.

Megan Tuttle, president of the 17,000-member New Hampshire chapter of the NEA, is listed as a delegate at the assembly. However, the NH-NEA declined to respond to requests for comment.

“It is profoundly disturbing that a group of NEA activists would brazenly attempt to further isolate their Jewish colleagues and push a radical, antisemitic agenda on students,” the ADL said in a statement.

“We will not be cowed for supporting Israel, and we will not be deterred from our work reaching millions of students with educational programs every year.”

State Rep. Paul Berch (D-Westmoreland), who is Jewish, told NHJournal he was “profoundly disappointed that the NEA has targeted the ADL.”

“Rather than attacking the messenger, the NEA should turn its attention to the rise of antisemitism in our elementary and secondary schools, as well as on our college campuses,” Berch said.

Across the partisan aisle, state Rep. Judy Aron (R-Acton), who is also Jewish, denounced the NEA’s actions.

“I can’t say I’m surprised, though, given the liberal issues they support,” Aron added. “Anti-Israel sentiment is one of them. I just wonder if the NEA’s Jewish members will think twice about what their dues support.”

One group that was pleased by the NEA’s actions is the anti-Israel Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“This principled move is a significant step toward fostering respect for the rights and dignity of all students in public schools, who must receive an education without facing biased, politically-driven agendas,” CAIR said.

The NEA and ADL clashed last year over a Massachusetts Teachers Association webinar on teaching Islamophobia and attacks against Palestinians that the ADL said were thinly disguised attacks on Jews and Israel. 

According to CBS News, the webinar featured two political science professors from UMass Boston, a member of the group Jewish Voices for Peace, and Merrie Najimy, the former president of the MTA. Yael Magen, a mother who watched the webinar, told CBS the whole presentation was “troubling.”

“It was so many inaccurate historical events that are very troubling,” Magen said. “There was a slide that said Israel does not equal the Jewish people. There was a slide that said that Zionism is oppressive and is a propaganda machine.”

The MTA would not provide the video for review, telling CBS News it was not available to the public.

Najimy was on hand for Sunday’s vote, rallying activists to ditch the ADL.

“Why would we partner with an organization that does us harm?” Najimy asked.

State Rep. James Spillane is a leader of the NH-Israel Caucus in the State House. He told NHJournal the caucus “sincerely hopes that the New Hampshire NEA and its delegates will assure our state that they condemn the actions of the national body, and they did not vote to support them.”

When radical leftist Elias Rodriguez murdered Israeli embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim on May 22 in Washington, D.C., the group Unity of Fields went to work.

On the day of the shocking murder, the group made its position clear with a post on Twitter/X, “We ain’t condemning sh*t.” They also posted a link to a petition celebrating Rodriguez and calling for the accused murderer’s release.

“Elias Rodriguez’s act was fully justified, at that place where legal and moral duties meet,” the group declared.

Who are these antisemitic extremists celebrating violence? They are the same Marxists behind the attack on Elbit Systems in Merrimack, N.H., just weeks after the Hamas terror rampage in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Elbit Systems is based in Israel.)

When Democratic Party activist Calla Walsh and her allies attacked Elbit, they were part of Palestine Action U.S. Today, they call themselves Unity of Fields (UoF), a reference to efforts by Palestinian terror organizations to coordinate their attacks on Israel and Jews across multiple fronts during the 2021 Israel-Hamas war.

Whatever its current name, the organization comprises the same collection of radical Marxists who surround notorious multimillionaire — and one-time New Hampshire resident — James “Fergie” Chambers. That includes Walsh, who wrote in a May 2023 essay for Unity of Fields that Rodriguez simply “brought the war home” when he murdered Lischinsky and Milgrim.

“[W]e must uphold armed struggle against imperialism, abroad and here, such as the alleged actions of political prisoner Elias Rodriguez, who brought the war home,” Walsh wrote.

Unity of Fields’ website hosts printable versions of Rodriguez’s terrorist manifesto as well as guides and manuals for conducting “anti-imperialist action.” It also posts reports from radical protests across the country, and printable posters celebrating people like Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack. Israeli soldiers killed Sinwar in October. 

On the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, Unity of Fields issued a statement calling for more terror.

“If victory over the US Empire and its zionist [sic] proxy is possible, it will be because struggles against them have erupted all over the world — Bring the war home! Two, three, many Al-Aqsa Floods!”

Al-Aqsa Flood is the Hamas name for the Oct. 7 attack. 

Walsh, Bridget Shergalis, Sophie Ross, and Paige Belanger were all convicted of misdemeanor charges for their attack on Elbit, which was done under the Palestinian Action US banner. They were sentenced to 60 days in jail.

James “Fergie” Chambers interviewed from his new home in Tunisia.

Walsh and the other women have long been linked to Chambers and his Marxist Commune in the Berkshires. Chambers moved from the commune to the Upper Valley in New Hampshire to take advantage of the Granite State’s friendly tax laws and easy access to legal firearms.

Chambers is an heir of the wealthy Cox family, who has made his radical and anti-Israel sentiments well known. He called Oct. 7 “a moment of hope and inspiration,” and told Mother Jones magazine, “the most important thing for the prosperity of humanity is the destruction of the US.”

Aside from hating America and Israel, Chambers is a big fan of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling Vladimir Putin a “great man.”

It appears that law enforcement has been very interested in Walsh, Chambers, and their friends. Walsh’s cell phone was seized by FBI agents after her arrest in Merrimack, opening up her contact list to federal investigators. Carrying a personal cell phone to an “action” is the type of security breach considered a no-no in the manuals published on Unity of Fields’ website. 

“Enabling my personal phone to get seized is one of the greatest tactical errors I have ever made; it exposed and endangered not only me but every single contact I had on that phone,” Walsh wrote.

After Walsh’s cell phone seizure, Chambers left his home in New Hampshire and moved to Tunisia in North Africa. Along with the stunning desert views, Tunisia offers no extradition treaty with the United States. 

A new report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. hit a new record in 2024, and the Granite State contributed to that disturbing trend.

The audit, released Tuesday, reported 9,354 antisemitic incidents recorded in the U.S. last year. It’s the highest number since 1979, when the ADL first began collecting data.

Also noteworthy: It’s the first time most of the incidents (58 percent) were related to Israel or Zionism.

The ADL audit found reports of antisemitic incidents rose 51 percent in the Granite State last year, the highest rate of increase in New England.

The jump comes from two different ends of the political spectrum, according to Samantha Joseph with the ADL. 

Patriot Front, the white supremacist hate group, accounts for a large share of the increase, as do multiple leftwing groups behind campus protests this year.

“There continues to be a lot of white supremacist activity, and Patriot Front is responsible for the majority of that,” Joseph said.

But left-wing extremists also embraced antisemitism during protests against Israel’s war on Hamas, Joseph said. The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, in which approximately 1,200 people were murdered and hundreds taken hostage, saw some left-wing extremists openly support Hamas within hours of the attack. Since that day, more left-wing extremists have been open in their antisemitic views.

For example, a group of progressive activists vandalized the Israeli-owned Elbit Systems in Merrimack just weeks after the Hamas attack.

“Oct. 7 is the watershed moment that changed the trajectory,” Joseph said. 

Tracy Richmond, with the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire, said keeping up with reports of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack is almost a full-time job. The federation works closely with the ADL to keep the community informed.

“Since Oct. 7, we have heard about more and more instances of antisemitism within our state,” Richmond said. “We work hard to make sure that the citizens of New Hampshire know they can reach us with any concerns, and we will continue fighting against hate as long as these events occur. This goes for our public schools, the private high schools, and all the colleges throughout New Hampshire.”

The ADL tracks protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, but Joseph pointedly said that protesting the government of Israel or its policies is not antisemitism. The ADL only counts incidents that cross the line into blatant hate mongering by protestors or organizers.

Some of those incidents include the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack being celebrated on the University of New Hampshire campus as part of the Palestinian Solidarity Coalition’s “Week of Rage.” During that celebration, protestors chanted the slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” widely viewed as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

UNH also saw protestors take up other Hamas slogans like “Smash Zionism” and “Globalize the Intifada” during protests held throughout the year.

In Manchester, a protest put together by a plethora of Marxist groups like the ANSWER Coalition, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Congress of Workers’ Organizations featured a speaker who said, “It is the Zionists, ironically the new Nazis of the 21st century, who by theology is rooted in Jewish supremacy. Although only specific kinds of Jews.”

But slogans and chants weren’t the only things tracked. Last year, Jewish students and professors at Dartmouth College were targeted with a threat of violence. An anonymous email sent to several Dartmouth offices justified the threat by citing violence against Palestinian women and children, as well as Islamophobia.

So far, New Hampshire has not been mired in antisemitic violence, though that is happening in other parts of the country, Joseph said. 

“We are seeing an increase in assaults, which is very worrisome,” she said.

Accusing him of “failing up” and “cashing out,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations says there should be no place at the University of New Hampshire for former Biden advisor Jake Sullivan, and it’s calling on the university to give him the boot.

Sullivan, who served as President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, was recently named as a senior fellow at UNH’s Carsey School of Public Policy, and the inaugural Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order at the Kennedy School at Harvard. The 48-year-old Democrat is also married to first-term U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, who is currently considering a 2026 run for U.S. Senate. 

CAIR’s Deputy Executive Director Edward Mitchell said Sullivan’s role directing the Biden White House’s foreign policy, especially its support for Israel, disqualifies him from those prominent positions.

“Government officials who flout federal law, lie to the American public, and enable deadly foreign policy catastrophes should not be able to cash out on their disastrous time in office by failing up and taking up cushy positions at prominent colleges and universities.”

Mitchell accused Sullivan acted as a “shadow president” for Biden, echoing a line of attack Republicans made on the enfeebled president during his time in office.

In a letter to UNH President Liz Chilton and the Carsey School of Public Policy’s Stephen Bird, CAIR expressed outrage for botched Biden policies overseen by Sullivan.

“As National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan was a ‘chief architect’ of the most disastrous foreign policy decisions made by the Biden administration. He oversaw the catastrophic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021—an operation that ended with a U.S. drone strike that killed an innocent Afghan family. Under his leadership, no one was held accountable for this war crime,” wrote Robert McCaw, CAIR’s Government Affairs Department Director.

CAIR has a long history of anti-Israel action and rhetoric, so it’s no surprise it singled out the Biden administration’s support for the Jewish state.

“Mr. Sullivan coordinated the Biden administration’s unwavering support for the Israeli government’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza. He oversaw arms shipments, provided diplomatic cover, and repeatedly affirmed Israel’s human rights abuses despite overwhelming evidence of systematic violence against Palestinian civilians,” McCaw wrote.

“By granting Sullivan this prominent role, UNH sends the troubling message that architects of destructive, failed and illegal policies can ‘fail up’ and be rewarded with prestigious academic positions, regardless of the grave human rights implications of their actions.”

UNH issued a statement Wednesday backing Sullivan.

“The Carsey School is nationally recognized for research, policy education, and bringing people together for thoughtful dialogue to address important societal challenges. We seek to give our students the skills to start and build impactful careers, learning from both leading scholars and leading practitioners in policy, community development, and public management,” the statement reads. “Jake Sullivan’s deep experience in federal government and public policy led us to name him a senior fellow, an unpaid honorific position given to those with a significant role contributing to the public discourse on policy. We look forward to having him contribute to our academic community.”

Sullivan’s wife, Goodlander, is a former UNH professor. The couple lives in a $1.2 million mansion in Portsmouth, though Goodlander rented a property in the Second Congressional District just a few weeks before becoming a candidate last year’s Democratic primary.

As Biden’s foreign policy advisor, Sullivan took incoming political fire from both sides in the Israel v. Hamas conflict. Last May, 26 centrist Democrats in Congress wrote Sullivan to complain about the administration’s decision to withhold weapons from Israel as they fought Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Goodlander was already running for Congress at the time, but she refused to comment on the Biden policy or say if she supported or opposed withholding weapons from the Jewish state.

Days after taking office, President Donald Trump reversed the Biden policy and released the weapons to Israel.

NHJournal has reached out to Goodlander for a response.

Anti-Israel activist Calla Walsh was unrepentant as she faced sentencing in Hillsborough Superior Court — South on Thursday for her role in the vandalism attack on Elibit Systems in Merrimack.

“Free Palestine,” Walsh said moments before she was handcuffed and taken into custody, eliciting cheers from her comrades in court.

The courtroom was packed with supporters, mostly young, White women, and the majority wearing Palestinian keffiyehs. The comrades cried, shouted support, and made heart shapes with their hands as each woman was taken away by deputies. 

Walsh, 20, and her fellow defendants — Sophie Ross, 23; Bridget Shergalis, 28; and Paige Belanger, 33 — were arrested following their attack on the Elbit facility, protesting the Israeli-owned defense company for providing weapons to Israel. 

The activists staged the attack on November 20, 2023, weeks after Hamas terrorists murdered 1,300 Israelis and took hundreds of hostages on October 7.

Paige Belanger

All four entered guilty pleas to misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass and criminal mischief as part of a negotiated plea agreement. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, who personally oversaw the prosecution, originally charged the four activists with a series of felonies, including riot, conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, burglary, and conspiracy to commit falsifying physical evidence. Each charge carries a potential three-and-a-half to seven-year prison sentence.

But in the end, Formella made a deal.

The sentence for each charge is 12 months in jail, but the women will each serve just 60 days under the agreement. The remainder of the jail time is deferred for six months. Along with community service and a pledge to not be charged with any new crimes, the women are under orders to pay Elbit a total of $95,000 to cover the damage they caused at the Merrimack facility on Daniel Webster Highway.

“The resolution reached with these defendants balances the needs of sentencing, as well as the goals of the New Hampshire Department of Justice and the victim, Elbit Systems of America, to ensure the defendants make Elbit America whole by paying restitution in full, completing community service within the community they disrupted, and by facing a significant period of incarceration,” according to a statement from the Attorney General’s Office.

“This resolution also serves the broader goal of deterrence and sends a clear message from law enforcement that criminal conduct aimed at disrupting businesses and communities will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted.”

Some Granite Staters expressed their disappointment that the anti-Israel activists — who broke windows, smashed skylights, damaged equipment, and forced a lockdown of the employees inside the building — will get a slap on the wrist.

Sophie Ross

“I think they got off too easy,” state Rep. Jeanine Notter (R-Merrimack) told NHJournal. “They terrorized the employees of Elbit. Can you imagine being in that building and not knowing the extent of what was happening outside? They padlocked the doors and were up on the roof doing who knows what?

“Terrorizing people should have a stiffer sentence than 60 days in jail,” Notter added.

There’s a good chance the incarcerated activists will get financial help from multi-millionaire and self-declared Communist James “Fergie” Chambers. The scion of the wealthy Cox family, Chambers operates a Marxist commune in Massachusetts, though he lives in the Granite State to take advantage of the state’s tax policies and strong Second Amendment protections.

While he likes low taxes and gun ownership, Chambers hates Israel.

“Israel does not deserve to exist,” Chambers told LA Magazine last year. “It is a false state propped up by the West.” 

Belanger listed herself as the secretary for the Berkshire Communists, the “revolutionary Marxist-Leninist collective” reportedly bankrolled by Chambers. 

The four women are all connected to Palestinian Action U.S., where Chambers is prominent. Chambers often pays bail for radical left-wing protestors, and made sure to front the cash bail for the women last year.

The FBI has an interest in Chambers, and seized Walsh’s cell phone after her arrest last year as part of an investigation into the wealthy Communist benefactor, according to court records.

Calla Walsh (right) and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Walsh is a political star in her own right. She gained fame as a 16-year-old activist who helped push Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to victory in a primary race against Joseph Kennedy III. More recently, she’s been fangirling online for the likes of Hamas and Iran’s repressive, authoritarian regime run by Islamic fundamentalists.

Walsh mourned the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack, going so far as to post an image of her presidential ballot with Sinwar’s name written in.

She also posted messages calling Israelis “the scum of nations and pigs of the Earth.”

Walsh still has a pending criminal case out of Cambridge, Mass. for her protest at the Elbit facility there.

Bridget Shergalis

Shergalis comes to the Marxist, anti-Israel movement via television. The former child actress had featured roles on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel productions, though she does not seem to have parlayed her minor fame into steady work as an adult.

State Sen.-elect Tim McGough (R-Merrimack) told NHJournal he supports the plea deal.

“This sentencing reinforces New Hampshire’s commitment to maintaining the rule of law and protecting our community from destructive behavior,” McGough said.

“It’s clear the negotiated plea deal likely considered the toll these repeated trials would have taken on Elbit Systems’ employees and the significant cost four separate trials would have imposed on the State of New Hampshire. Valley Street Jail is not a fun place to spend the upcoming holidays, and these criminals are in for a rude awakening. This sentencing sends a strong message: our community stands against violence, and those who disrupt our peace will face serious consequences.”

The four women charged with vandalizing the Elbit Systems facility in Merrimack last year may not go to trial.

Calla Walsh, Sophie Ross, Bridget Shergalis, and Paige Belanger are all scheduled for criminal mediation instead of jury trial, according to records filed in Hillsborough Superior Court — South in Nashua. The suspects targeted the Elbit facility because its parent company is based in Israel and is a major military contractor for the Jewish State.

The mediation session set for Sept. 18 will let lawyers for the women and prosecutors with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Civil Rights Unit work out a possible plea deal to resolve the case. Criminal mediation involves both parties working with a neutral judge to come to an agreement that includes some form of restitution for the victim.

Mediation does not guarantee a plea bargain will be reached. After the judge hears from both sides, he or she will issue an order laying a proposed agreement. Neither side is bound to accept the terms of the mediation judge’s order and the case can still move to trial at that point, or there can be continued plea negotiations.

For example, former Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave is scheduled for an August trial on his theft and perjury charges after failed plea negotiations and a rejected mediation order. Court records indicate Brave’s lawyer is continuing to seek a plea in that case as prosecutors contemplate bringing more charges.

Elbit has been repeatedly targeted by Palestinian Action US, an anti-Israel group first started in the United Kingdom and stepped up activities in the days after the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Hamas terrorists murdered at least 1,200 people that day, and hundreds more raped and taken hostage. 

Walsh allegedly led the PA US team that included Shergalis, Ross, and Belanger in the action on the Elbit facility on Daniel Webster Highway in Merrimack on Nov. 20. The group allegedly smashed windows, sprayed graffiti, and climbed to the roof where they set off smoke bombs and tried to break into the HVAC system, according to police reports.

The women have known ties to a Marxist commune and the commune’s wealthy founder, James “Fergie” Chambers, who has been reported as a founding member of PA US, though he denies he has a leadership role.

NHJournal reported the FBI has been looking into Chambers and PA US. It is not known if the investigation remains open at this time.

Walsh is active in the anti-Israel “Boycott/Divest/Sanction (BDS) movement, which many critics say is antisemitic due to its sole focus on the Jewish State. More problematic is Walsh’s involvement in the so-called “Boston Mapping Project,” which created an interactive map identifying places where Jews tend to congregate as well as the locations of Jewish community organizations in Massachusetts. The map included locations of Jewish daycares and schools.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Mapping Project identifies Jewish communal groups as “‘Boston’s Zionist NGO circuit” and accused not only of “supporting the colonization of Palestine” but also of “violence worldwide.”

Belanger is another PA US member who has described herself as the secretary for Chambers’ Berkshire Communists, a “revolutionary Marxist-Leninist collective.”

Old-school Marxists are behind many of the anti-Israel protests that began almost within hours of the Oct. 7 Hamas murders. The New Hampshire chapter of the Party of Socialism and Liberation, a group that advocates a Marxist revolution, coordinates many of the protests.

Not much is known about Ross outside her activities against Elbit. Shergalis, on the other hand, is a former child actor who featured in Disney and Nickelodeon shows like “So Random” and “See Dad Run.” Chambers paid the $50,000 cash bail for Walsh, Shergalis, and Ross when they were arrested.

Chambers is a member of the Cox family, which is worth about $34 billion, according to reports. In recent years, Chambers negotiated an early inheritance with the family trust, allowing him to walk away with a reported $250 million. He used that money to start the Marxist commune in the Berkshires, as well as a “People’s Gym” in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire. Chambers currently lives in New Hampshire in order to take advantage of the low taxes and lax firearm regulation.

The anti-Israel protests that rocked the University of New Hampshire campus this spring were supported by a national organization with alleged ties to terrorism.

The group National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), along with American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), are accused of operating as a propaganda arm of Hamas, the terrorist organization that carried out the murders, rapes and kidnappings in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

On Tuesday, a Virginia judge ordered (AMP), to disclose its funding sources as part of an investigation by state Attorney General Jason Miyares into allegations of terrorism financing, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

A federal lawsuit brought by survivors of the Oct. 7 terror attack alleges the organizations mobilized in the hours and days after the Hamas terror attack in order to spread disinformation and advocate “peace” by demanding Israel not retaliate against the terrorists.

“There is a legal chasm between independent advocacy and knowingly serving as the propaganda and recruiting wing of a Foreign Terrorist Organization in the United States. AMP and NSJP are the latter. They are not innocent advocacy groups, but rather the propaganda arm of a terrorist organization operating in plain sight,” the lawsuit claims.

The NSJP takes credit for helping organize a protest at the UNH Durham campus this spring in which hundreds of anti-Israel protesters attempted to set up illegal encampments before being arrested. The protest also featured antisemitic messages like “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,” and accusations that the Jewish state is guilty of genocide.

AMP’s leadership founded the NSJP in 2010, one of the main groups behind this spring’s college campus protests, including at UNH. The stated goal of the NSJP to advocate for the Palestinian people is a smokescreen, however, according to the lawsuit. Instead, it uses its hundreds of campus organizations to support terrorism against Jewish people.

“AMP’s message to college campuses through NSJP is unambiguous: violent attacks are a justified response to Zionism as an idea, to Israel as an entity, and to Zionists as people. The purpose of this messaging is not only to justify the terrorism of Hamas and its affiliates in Gaza within Western academia and society at large but also to establish an environment where violence against Jews and anyone else associated with Israel could be construed as acceptable, justified, or even heroic,” the lawsuit states.

According to the Anti Defamation League,  NSPJ began using its campus chapters to call for more violence days after the Oct. 7 attack.

“[NSJP organized] a ‘Day of Resistance’ on Oct. 12, during which chapters on campuses across the country would convene rallies and other actions to applaud Palestinian ‘resistance’ to Israel,” according to the ADL. 

The NSJP’s “resistance” takes the form of antisemitic violence and murder in the United States, the ADL reports. 

“There was also a ‘Day of Resistance Toolkit’ in which SJP made clear that it advocates for Hamas or other Palestinian forces to conquer all of Israel, and for the ‘complete liberation’ of Israel and the full influx of Palestinians to Israeli land. The toolkit also called for chapters to bring this resistance to the U.S. by ‘dismantling Zionism’ on its campuses and ‘challenging Zionist hegemony,’” the ADL reports.

In New Hampshire, groups like Palestinian Action USA have been “challenging Zionist hegemony” by vandalizing the Merrimack facility owned by Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons system manufacturer. Several members of PAUSA, connected to multi-millionaire communist James “Fergie” Chambers, have been charged for their alleged criminal antics at Elbit. Those cases are currently pending trial.

New Hampshire’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General John Formella, has focused on the individuals behind the protests, though he has not closed the door on holding Palestinian Action USA responsible as well.

NSJP is also promoting the effort to pressure Formella’s office to drop the charges against the “Merrimack 3,” Sophie Ross, Calla Walsh, and Bridget Shergalis. They were arrested on vandalism and other charges after attacking the Merrimack, N.H. Elbit Systems location. Elbit Systems is an Israel-based company.

The extremist left-wing group behind the assault on Elbit Systems in Merrimack is under FBI investigation, NHJournal has learned.

As Calla Walsh set off smoke bombs from the roof of the Elbit Systems of America facility, images of her protest were pushed out on social media by Palestine Action US. The group is the American offshoot of an anti-Israel organization based in the U.K., and it gets financial support from local millionaire — and self-declared Communist — James “Fergie” Chambers. Chambers put up bail for Walsh and her two co-defendants after their arrest on charges stemming from the Merrimack incident.

Walsh’s connections to Palestine Action US and Chambers have caught her in the FBI’s crosshairs.

Merrimack Police Detective Kevin Manuele’s probable cause statement seeking court approval to search Walsh’s cell phone states the FBI is already interested in Chambers and Palestine Action US. 

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation was conducting an investigation into the group that was involved as well as their leader Chambers, who is known to the FBI,” Manuele wrote.

The FBI generally does not publicize details of ongoing investigations, but the information came to light as part of a court battle over Walsh’s cell phone. Merrimack police seized Walsh’s it during her arrest at Elbit, and the progressive teen activist has been demanding its return, according to court records.

Weeks after the November arrest, FBI Agent Kevin Leblanc took possession of the phone as part of that agency’s inquiry into Chambers and Palestine Action US. The phone has since been returned to Merrimack Police. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella won’t release it unless Walsh agrees to let Granite State investigators search it for information. In lieu of that, Formella’s office went to court this month seeking approval to look at the phone’s contents. 

Jeffrey Odland, Walsh’s defense attorney, is objecting on grounds that the attorney general’s actions violated her Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

“The State’s seizure of [Walsh’s] phone and subsequent request to search are constitutionally unreasonable due to the 184-day delay in the state applying for judicial permission to search,” Odland wrote. 

Manuele’s probable cause statement indicates there is likely evidence of conspiracy on Walsh’s phone beyond her actions with co-defendants Sophie Ross, Bridget Shergalis, and Paige Belanger. All four women have ties to Palestine Action US, as well as Chambers.

Palestine Action US spearheads attacks on Elbit, even publishing a since-deleted map of all Elbit facilities in the United States on its social media platforms. It also broadcasts messages to “shut down Elbit,” according to Manuele.

Walsh, a self-identified Communist and “anti-imperialist,” has a long history of protesting against Elbit. After a 2022 arrest at the Cambridge, Mass. Elbit facility, Walsh expressed her displeasure with police on social media.

“Cambridge pigs are still pigs. They serve to protect capital and empire,” Walsh wrote.

She also posted a message on social media calling Israelis “the scum of nations and pigs of the Earth.”

Walsh and Chambers appear in a photo together at the Cambridge protest which was shared by Palestine Action US, according to Manuele. Palestine Action US promoted the Merrimack incident with photos of Walsh, and it used the picture of a masked Walsh holding smoke bombs on top of the Elbit Systems building in later promotional images shared to social media.

Calla Walsh, Fergie Chambers and Paige Belanger protesting Elbit Systems on Oct. 30, 2023 in Cambridge, Mass. (Via Instagram)

Chambers is a member of the Cox family, worth about $34 billion, according to reports. Chambers essentially negotiated an early inheritance with the family trust, allowing him to walk away with a reported $250 million which he used to start a Marxist commune in the Berkshires, as well as a “People’s Gym” in the Upper Valley. He also supports left-wing protests and funds bail for activists like Walsh.

Chambers denied being a Palestine Action US leader, though he’s often described as a co-founder.

“PAL Action is not now and never was an ‘org,’” Chambers wrote NHJournal. “It is a social media platform that shares news of direct actions people have taken against Elbit or other weapons companies. We’ve shared things in Cali, VA, TX, MA, NH, etc. If someone sends us [something], we share it. Bears zero connection to who did it.”

When it comes to Palestine Action USA, Chambers is just another member of the organization that isn’t an organization, he said. Chambers got attention in recent months for his outspoken opposition to Israel, America and capitalism, among others. 

“Israel does not deserve to exist,” Chambers told LA Magazine. “It is a false state propped up by the West.” 

Walsh is a political star in her own right. She gained fame as a 16-year-old activist who helped push Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) to victory in a primary race against Joseph Kennedy III. 

Walsh is also an avowed fan of Hamas and Iran’s repressive, authoritarian regime run by religious fundamentalists. She recently took to social media to lament the death of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi because he did much to help overthrow the West through terror.

“Even if they don’t explicitly identify as communist, by dealing blow after blow to US imperialism, Iran, Hamas, Ansar Allah & the entire Axis of Resistance are doing far more to create the conditions for communism to be possible than literally any Western armchair communists,” Walsh wrote.

She also wrote last week that Iran, Russia, and China work together to help Hamas operate.

“Remember the full picture. The Palestinian resistance doesn’t take orders from Iran, but their capacity to resist would be much weaker w/o Iran’s support, and that support would be impossible w/o Iran’s close relations with China & Russia, which allows Iran to bypass sanctions,” Walsh wrote. 

But the latest news for Walsh isn’t all bad. The court order banning her from communicating with Ross and Shergalis was recently lifted.

Walsh said she’s looking forward to hugs with friends.