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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. 

News that she and her comrades might be targets of the FBI can’t be welcoming to Walsh, but it’s not all bad news for her. The court order banning her from communicating with Ross and Shergalis was recently lifted. Walsh said she’s looking forward to hugs with friends.