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When two anti-Israel progressive Dartmouth College students were arrested last weekend, they claimed the college administration’s accusations that they had made violent threats were a smear.

In fact, the statement issued by the two students specifically violated the school’s policy on violent threats, as evidenced by the fact they edited the document after their arrest to soften the language.

Early Saturday morning, Dartmouth students Roan Wade and Kevin Engel, who were camping outside of college President Sian Leah Beilock’s residence, were arrested on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespassing. The two are student leaders of the far-left Sunrise Movement. They had issued a document listing a series of demands, including that Dartmouth act against “Israeli apartheid by divesting the College’s endowment from all organizations that are complicit in apartheid and its apparatuses.”

The demands, which they called the “Dartmouth New Deal,” also include paying reparations to Native Americans, going carbon neutral, and cutting ties with the military-industrial complex.

“We are taking action now, but we will escalate. You have until the first day of the winter term to publicly address our demands and outline a plan to meet them. If you fail to do so, we will escalate and take further action,” they wrote.

The threat to “escalate” and “take further action” violated Dartmouth’s rules against threats, and as a result, the Hanover police were called.

“(T)he situation changed when two students … threatened in writing to ‘escalate and take further action,’ including ‘physical action,’ if their demands were not met,’” Beilock wrote.

In an open letter published in The Dartmouth, Wade and Engel denied they made any threats.

“The administration’s accusation that the demonstrators threatened violence is a lie. Beilock cited a decontextualized sentence from the Dartmouth New Deal as justification for the arrests,” they wrote.

However, the Sunrise Movement at Dartmouth’s own document showed it was edited two days after the arrests to soften the objectionable language.

“Sunrise is committed to nonviolent direct action, such as hosting vigils, sit-ins, and rallies. In this context, to escalate and take further action means that the organization will host larger events and mobilize a greater number of people in order to achieve the demands listed in the Dartmouth New Deal. (Edited October 30 at 2:40 p.m.)”

The incident comes as progressives organize anti-Israel marches, often featuring antisemitic rhetoric, on many of America’s most elite college campuses. The protests come in the wake of the Hamas terror attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, in which more than 1,400 people were murdered, and Hamas terrorists took hundreds more hostage.

The Dartmouth New Deal urges the university to embrace the views of the so-called “Palestine Solidarity Coalition, or PSC. The organization, of which Wade is a member, blames all of the Hamas violence targeting Jews on Israel.

“The root cause of this violence is apartheid, the institutionalized system of oppression and domination by one ethnic group over another,” the Coalition wrote. “Israel today is an apartheid state, designed to deny Indigenous Palestinians their democratic representation and civil rights.”

Casey Stockstill

Wade did not respond to a request for comment.

Wade’s position on Israel is similar to Dartmouth Associate Sociology Professor Casey Stockstill, one of hundreds of sociology professors who signed an open letter in response to Hamas’ deadly terror attacks. Stockstill and fellow academics wrote of the need to “contextualize” the murders, kidnappings, and beheadings committed by Hamas terrorists “in the context of 75 years of settler colonial occupation and European empire,” the letter stated.

Dartmouth has a history of antisemitism. In the 1940s, as European Jews were fleeing the horrors of the Nazi regime, then-President Ernest Hopkins told the New York Post the school had a policy of turning away Jewish students.

“We cut the quotas more on our Jewish applicants than we do the basis of applications from Anglo-Saxons,” Hopkins said. “I think if you were to let Dartmouth become predominantly Jewish, it would lose its attraction for the Jews … Dartmouth is a Christian college founded for the Christianization of its students.” 

Joy Douglas and two dozen fellow members of New Hampshire’s Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL) took to the streets of Manchester Wednesday night, chanting in support of Palestine and the “resistance” to Israel.

They were far outnumbered by the 300 or so people who gathered at the State House in Concord to rally on behalf of Israel in the wake of the worst terrorist attack on the Jewish state in its history.

At least 1,200 people were killed by Hamas terrorists, including entire families. There are confirmed reports of infants being beheaded and Israelis being burned to death. At least 22 Americans were murdered as well. Over 150 people have been taken hostage by Hamas, and the terrorists have threatened to execute the hostages and livestream the video.

“We are heartbroken over the terrorist attacks at the hands of Hamas against innocent Israelis – including beloved children, brothers, sisters, and parents,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a letter of support. “New Hampshire stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Israel today, and every day, and antisemitism will never be tolerated here.”

Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), who has long supported the Biden administration’s outreach to Iran and voted against pro-Israel resolutions in the past, announced Wednesday he was calling for the White House to reverse course on the $6 billion in assets released by the U.S.

“We must use every tool available to degrade Hamas’ ability to wage war against Israel. The Biden administration must re-freeze the $6 billion in assets currently held by Qatar and ensure that none can be used to aid and abet these heinous acts of terror.”

Even far-left progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have decried anti-Israel protests, breaking with her fellow members of “The Squad” like Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)

It might be a change of heart. Or it might be Democrats addressing the new political realities after Saturday’s attack.

A poll released Wednesday found nearly 7 in 10 voters sided with the Israelis (68 percent), while just 18 percent sided with the Palestinians. That included a majority (59 percent) of Democrats, a significant shift over polling in March that found more Democrats backed the Palestinians than Israel.

Opponents like Douglas and the PSL are undaunted.

“We stand with the struggle of the oppressed against the oppressors,” Douglas said. “The U.N. states clearly that those facing oppression, those who are facing apartheid and genocide, have every right to fight back.”

At the same time, Douglas insisted reports of mass Israeli civilian deaths at the hands of Hamas are untrue. No civilians were murdered in their homes, no hostages were taken by terrorists, and no 300 concertgoers were gunned down by terrorists using paragliders.

“There’s no documented evidence that those people are dead,” Douglas said. 

Douglas claimed the stories were lies propagated by a compliant media controlled by Israel.

PSL members are typically found protesting outside city hall, opposing any measure to curb Manchester’s rampant homeless problem. On Wednesday night, Douglas and the dozen or so other PLS members waved Palestinian flags and signs and chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” It is a phrase used by Hamas and other antisemitic organizations calling for Israel’s destruction.

Some downtown pedestrians joined the chants, and passing drivers honked and shouted support.

The antisemites of the New England-based neo-Nazis at NSC-131 have also spoken out on behalf of Hamas.

NSC-131 posted a memo on its Telegram channel after the attack with a photo of a Nazi and a Hamas terrorist with the hashtags #DeathToIsreal and #OneStruggle.

Douglas said despite sharing a message with NSC-131 in favor of Palestinian terror against Israelis, the PSL group has nothing in common with the neo-Nazis. Instead, Douglas lumped NSC-131 and the Jews into the same group.

“They are fascists and Nazis; they are a fascist group just as the Zionists are a fascist group,” Douglas said.

One is a former cop who is fighting to keep the records surrounding his firing from the force secret.

Another is a progressive who has spoken at “defund the police” rallies urging drastic restrictions on policing.

And another used her social media account to echo antisemite Louis Farrakhan’s language about Jews being “termites.”

What do they all have in common?

They all play a key role in overseeing law enforcement and crime policy in the Granite State as members of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

The committee is currently chaired by Rep. Terry Roy (R-Deerfield) who was fired from the Gardner, Mass. police force for lying on his Massachusetts license to carry a firearm application, according to court records.

He serves alongside fellow Republican Rep. Jon Stone (R-Claremont), who is fighting a Superior Court order to unseal the Claremont Police Department internal affairs records that might allow voters to know why he was fired from being a police officer.

Democrats on the committee include Rep. Allisandra Rodríguez-Murray (D-Manchester), who supported the “defund the police” movement and has made problematic statements regarding allegations of antisemitism among her fellow progressives.

Peterborough Democrat Jonah Wheeler, another new member of the committee, also aggressively promoted the “defund the police” movement speaking at rallies advocating the policy.

Those members of the Criminal Justice committee will weigh in on proposed law changes, like the one to eliminate the physical fitness requirements for police officers, or one allowing convicted felons to own guns, or another legalizing Dimethyltryptamine, a powerful hallucinogenic drug used in some native peoples’ religious ceremonies.

Pat Sullivan, executive director of the New Hampshire Chiefs of Police Association, said he and other advocates in the law enforcement and public safety community, will work with whoever sits on the committee.

“The New Hampshire legislature is the third or fourth-largest legislative body in the world, we get what we get,” Sullivan said.

Neither Stone, Murray, nor Wheeler responded to requests for comment.

According to court records, Roy was fired from the Gardner, Mass. Police Department in 1999 after then-Police Chief James Dufort discovered Roy lied on his original application for his license to carry a firearm. Dufort sent Roy a letter detailing why he was revoking the license.

“I find that you are not a suitable person to be licensed to possess a firearm,” Dufort wrote.

According to a court opinion affirming the revocation, Dufort believed Roy lied on his original application when he claimed he never had a prior criminal conviction, and that he had never used drugs.

“Chief Dufort discovered, however, that Roy’s criminal records indicate that he twice appeared before a juvenile court on delinquency complaints, one for a false alarm and another for larceny. In addition, while serving in the United States Army in 1990, Roy admitted to possession and use of cocaine,” Judge Timothy Hillman wrote.

Roy would keep fighting his termination in court, which he said was payback from some in Gardner City Hall after he arrested a city councilor for drunk driving. He eventually reached a settlement with the city, had his personnel record cleared, and had his termination changed to a resignation. Even though Roy would get his firearms license back and go on to work as an investigator for the state of Massachusetts, his time in Gardner continues to be used by political enemies.

“Because they know, that no matter how small the position, whether it pays, is volunteer, or as in this case, actually costs the person money to do; the other party will attempt to drag them and their families through any mud they can find, regardless how old or how untrue,” Roy said. “I was a much younger and healthier man a quarter century ago when I originally fought and won this in the press and the courts. It would be nice to be able to stop at some point.”

Stone, like Roy, became politically active after his career in New Hampshire law enforcement ended with termination. He is currently a member of the Claremont City Council and won a close vote in November to take the seat in the state House.

In 2006, Stone was fired from the Claremont Police Department for reasons that have never been made public. This reporter made a 2020 Right to Know request seeking Stone’s internal affairs records, and Stone has been attempting to keep the investigations into his actions as a police officer, and the possible reasoning for his firing from the department, hidden from the public since.

Last month, Sullivan Superior Court Judge Martin Honigberg ordered Stone’s records released, but stayed that order to give Stone time to appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) dismissed concerns about Roy and Stone’s past.

“I can’t imagine why I would concern myself with the distant past HR file of a legislative colleague,” Osborne said.

Rodríguez-Murray and Wheeler have both been vocal in their support for defunding police. They are also part of the progressive Rights and Democracy organization that targeted former Rep. Nicole Klein Knight (D-Manchester) after she complained about Rep. Maria Perez’s anti-Semitic statements.

Wheeler was following Klein Knight out of a committee meeting when she got into a verbal exchange with him, during which she used the n-word several times. She later claimed she was using the word as an example of offensive, and not pejoratively directed at Wheeler, who is African American.

During the ensuing fallout, Rodríguez-Murray decried Klein Knight’s lack of an apology two weeks after the incident and employed an anti-Semitic trope.

“Two weeks without an apology from @RepNicoleK and I’m done expecting one. we kicked the termite nest and uncovered racism permeating further into the party than we could’ve anticipated, and I for one am done wasting my energy on so-called allies,” she wrote on Twitter.

The “termite nest” reference echoes a highly-publicized statement by notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan who declared, “I am not an antisemite. I am anti-termite.”

Klein Knight herself had been a member of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee until the incident with Wheeler.

House Minority Leader Rep. Matt Wilhelm (D-Manchester) did not respond to a request for comment.

Sullivan said he and the police chiefs who go before the committee work hard to connect with all the members and educate them about the realities of police work. Ultimately, it is the voters who decide who gets to go to Concord he said.

“These are elected folks and their constituents elected them,” he said.

Does attending Latin Mass make you more likely to support white supremacist violence?

That was the premise of a leaked FBI memo naming “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics” (RTCs) as a potential threat and outlining opportunities for agents to recruit assets within the Catholic Church.

The memo, which was disavowed by the FBI just days after it was leaked, singled out a New Hampshire-based community as a specific concern.

“The writer makes an unsubstantiated leap that a preference for the Catholic Mass in Latin instead of the vernacular and a number of more traditional views on other world religions can amount to an ‘adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology,’” wrote former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin, who leaked the memo.

“Products like this can be used to support the opening of information-only cases, and there is no reason to expect Radical-Traditionalist Catholics are the end point of this train track – they will be the beginning. Opening the door to associating white supremacists with traditional religious practices based on common Christian positions on abortion and the LGBTQ political agendas is a dangerous step,” Seraphin added.

The memo lists several groups accused of harboring extreme views, including the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary based in Richmond, N.H. They are a splinter group from the original Slaves organization founded by the Rev. Leonard Feeney in the 1950s. Feeney held antisemitic beliefs and was for a time excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.

The leader of the Slaves, Louis Villarubia, who goes by Brother Andre Marie, has been accused of making antisemitic comments in the past. And the order’s strict adherence to the Catholic teaching of “no salvation outside the Church” is a violation of accepted Catholic doctrine. As a result, the group has been barred from calling themselves Catholic by Manchester Diocese Bishop Peter Libasci.

But Villarubia says simply holding unorthodox or unpopular beliefs is no reason to be targeted by the federal government.

“As a citizen of one of these United States—the great state of New Hampshire—I am appalled and outraged that some in America’s most powerful federal agency now propose to surveil peaceful, law-abiding Americans because of their traditional religious beliefs, the same beliefs which for Catholics, until a few generations ago, were held always and everywhere, by everyone,” Villarubbia said in a statement.

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said even if there are people with extreme views in the traditionalist community, they do not give up their First Amendment rights by virtue of being outliers.

“Some of these people may be kooky, but they are not exactly Antifa, about which the FBI has done little. So why the probe?” Donohue said.

Seraphin and Donohue see the memo as part of a larger anti-religion, anti-Catholic, anti-pro-life bias inside the federal government. Critics point to the recent case of Catholic father and pro-life activist Mark Houck who was charged with federal felonies for a scuffle outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic. Even though local prosecutors refused to charge Houck, the Biden Department of Justice sent an armed SWAT team to his home to arrest him and charge him with federal crimes. Houck, who had no criminal history, faced up to 11 years in prison.

It took the jury less than an hour to acquit him of all charges.

And if the civil rights of Catholics are under fire in New Hampshire, they can’t count on help from the state’s ACLU. Gilles Bissonnette, legal director at the NH ACLU, did not respond to a request for comment. The organization has been silent on the FBI’s proposal to infiltrate a religious Christian community. 

It is the same NH ACLU that was part of the lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

A group of Republican attorneys general is pushing back, signing on to a letter written by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland calling out anti-Catholic bigotry.

“Anti-Catholic bigotry appears to be festering in the FBI, and the Bureau is treating Catholics as potential terrorists because of their beliefs,” Miyares wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court is catching up to New Hampshire’s parental-rights approach to education, affirming that parents who use publicly-funded choice programs are free to choose religious schools.

In a 6-3 ruling released Tuesday, the court found Carson v. Makin that First Amendment protections for religious expression prohibit the government from discriminating against religious schools when states offer a school choice program to parents.

Maine has many rural communities — encompassing almost half of all the state’s 260 school districts — that cannot afford to support a middle school or high school. The state has long offered families tuition assistance so they can access education services for their children. But in 1981, Maine passed a law preventing parents from choosing a religious school.

The Supreme Court found that prohibition was unconstitutional.

While Tuesday’s ruling is a big change for some 18 states with similar bans, New Hampshire is at the forefront of school choice religious freedom. New Hampshire’s tuition assistance programs, and Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs) can be used for any school, including religious schools.

“New Hampshire has no religious test for tuition aid or EFAs, so the ruling confirms New Hampshire’s position as correct,” said Drew Cline, chair of the state Board of Education.

According to Andrew Wimer with the Institute for Justice, New Hampshire changed its laws on tuition assistance last summer. Wimer said the ruling strengthens New Hampshire’s religious freedom against any future attack.

“Today’s ruling does not change anything in New Hampshire, but does ensure that if a future legislature were to put the same restrictions back in place it would likely be found unconstitutional,” he said.

The law change came after the Institute for Justice filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Croydon couple Dennis and Cathy Griffin who wanted to send their grandson to a private Catholic school, Mount Royal Academy.

“We are happy the legislature did the right thing in removing politics from school funding by allowing individual choice on how our tax dollars are applied to our children’s education,” said Dennis Griffin said last year. “Cathy and I feel Mount Royal Academy is the best choice for our grandson’s education and the government should not be restricting the use of our tax dollars from funding our choice.”

Croydon, a town of about 700 people, does not operate a middle school, instead giving families tuition money they can use to send their child to a school in another district. But Croydon’s School Board refused to give the family the money because Mount Royal is Catholic, and New Hampshire at the time still had an anti-Catholic law on the books

Most of the laws prohibiting states from using public money for private religious schools come from a anti-Catholic movement started in the 1870s by U.S. Rep. James Blaine, a powerful Republican from Maine. Blaine’s response to the immigration of Catholic and Jewish families from Europe was to endorse a nativist movement to make sure the immigrant schools would not get any funding.

At the time, many public schools taught a form of Protestant Christianity.

New Hampshire’s Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut applauded the ruling, saying it affirms New Hampshire in its commitment to religious freedom.

“Schools of all kinds – public, non-public, religious or non-religious – have the distinct duty and ultimate responsibility to provide the best education possible for their students. This Supreme Court ruling clarifies what has always been so — that we do not discriminate against anyone, period. This ruling will ensure that school choice remains an opportunity for every student throughout the nation, and that there will be equality available among all educational institutions. There is no place for discrimination here in New Hampshire.”

New Hampshire Democrats were largely silent on the decision, with no member of the state’s federal delegation making any mention of it. They also declined to respond to requests for comment.

Granite State Democrats have long opposed school choice, especially the funding for parents who want to send their children to religious schools. During the debate over EFAs last year, state Sen. Tom Sherman (D-Rye) complained, “There’s just no accountability to property taxpayers whose money is being used for private, religious and home school.” 

Sherman is now the Democratic nominee for governor.

Senate Minority Leader Donna Soucy (D-Manchester) specifically cited the anti-Catholic “Blaine Amendment” language in the state constitution in her opposition to the EFA program.

“The New Hampshire Constitution prohibits taxpayer dollars from being directed to private or religious schools. Now more than ever, when legislators on both sides of the aisle have identified property taxpayer relief as a priority, it is difficult to understand why we would remove safeguards for the use of taxpayer dollars and ask hardworking Granite Staters to pay for the private education of other children and families.”

And former state Rep. Tamara Meyer Le (D-North Hampton) was removed from the House Education Committee in 2019 after a profanity-laced social media rant against private and religious education. “F*** private and religious schools,” Le wrote.

State Rep. Manny Espitia (D-Nashua), an outspoken progressive caught in the center of the recent State House drama in the Democratic caucus, has announced he is not seeking reelection. 

“It breaks my heart to not be seeking another term, but I have some commitments that would make it very difficult to spend another two years in the State House,” Espitia wrote on social media.

Espitia made headlines earlier this year when he released a statement suggesting that Black men face heightened danger in the presence of police officers. Soon after, Democratic leadership appointed him to the Criminal Justice committee.

Espitia will remain president of the New Hampshire Young Democrats and said he is working to win back the House majority from the GOP. He said his decision for the coming election is not the end of his political career.

“I doubt this will be the last time I run for the State House, but I’ll be back someday,” Espitia wrote.

News of his departure inspired a show of support from his fellow Democrats.

State Rep. Catherine Rombeau (D-Bedford) thanked Espitia for his leadership and his mentorship.

“Thank you, Manny, for your service, your patience, and your good humor. I’ve learned so much from your leadership (and doubt I’d be trying again without having your encouragement over the years)!” she wrote.

 State Rep. Jan Schmidt (D-Nashua) blamed the $100 a year salary paid to New Hampshire lawmakers.

“If we could actually pay legislators a decent wage we could keep amazing people like you, Manny,” Schmidt wrote on Facebook. “You bring so much to the House and give the position all your heart, oh, what a marvelous Speaker you will be someday, or senator, or governor, or member of Congress. Your world is open and you have our love going forward. Thank you.”

Espitia started his political career working for Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess. Last year, when a neo-Nazi group began posting racist graffiti in his neighborhood, Espitia called them out. Someone claiming to be with the NSC 131 organization responded on social media:

“Anyone w/a name like ‘Manny Espitia’, State Rep or not, has no moral right to throw shade at any true (White) Nationalist New Hampshirite. You have no right to be here, you’re an occupier here & the days of these types trampling on New England are coming to an end,” the anonymous NSC 131 poster wrote.

A subsequent investigation by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and federal law enforcement failed to result in any arrests.

Espitia has also had his own problematic moments. He became embroiled in the controversy surrounding State Rep. Nicole Klein Knight after she repeatedly used the “n-word” in an encounter with a young, Black activist in the State House. Klein Knight eventually called for security, an action Espitia found offensive.

“She engaged in degrading, bigoted behavior against a young Black man,” Espitia wrote in a public statement, “eventually calling security on him, despite being fully cognizant of the heightened dangers Black men face in this country in the presence of law enforcement.”

After the anti-cop comments were reported by NHJournal, Espitia issued an apology. He also blamed NHJournal for the controversy, and then-House Minority Leader Robert Renny Cushing (D-Hampton) ordered House Democrats to boycott NHJournal in retaliation for the reporting.

Espitia did not offer any explanation as to why, a few months later, he did an about-face and apologized to Klein Knight.

“On Feb. 2, I accused her of calling House security as retaliation against a young man. She has explained that she had been genuinely scared for her safety and I apologize for accusing her of such action,” Espitia wrote in the apology issued last month.

And Espitia also declined to join his fellow Hispanics who have publicly denounced U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas for embracing the “racist” border policies of the Trump administration, in particular Title 42. After Hassan made a campaign video in front of the Trump-built border wall, prominent members of the state’s Hispanic community like state Rep. Maria Perez (D-Milford) and Eva Castillo of the MIRA Coalition resigned from the New Hampshire Democratic Latino Caucus in response.

Espitia has yet to publicly criticize his fellow Democrats over their new tough-on-illegal-immigration stance.

A long-simmering feud between New Hampshire Democrats and progressives flared again this week, and it featured the same political figures who split the caucus months ago.

In an unexplained turn of events, state Rep. Manny Espitia, (D-Nashua), issued a public apology this week to state Rep. Nicole Klein Knight for accusing her of endangering the life of a Black Democratic activist. 

“On Feb. 2, I accused her of calling House security as retaliation against a young man. She has explained that she had been genuinely scared for her safety and I apologize for accusing her of such action,” Espitia wrote in the apology issued Wednesday.

Espitia did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday, and Klein Knight declined to comment when reached.

The saga began in January when Klein Knight confronted teen activist Jonah Wheeler in the State House and unleashed a verbal screed that included repeated use of the “n-word.” (Wheeler is Black.) She claimed she was attempting to confront what she believed were antisemitic statements and attitudes among BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) members of the progressive community. During the encounter, which she initiated, Klein Knight called security, claiming she feared for her own safety.

A group of BIPOC progressives responded by releasing a letter publicizing the incident and demanding an apology. The House Democratic Caucus leadership denounced Klein Knight and removed her from committee assignments.

The incident was followed by weeks of charges and countercharges, with progressives accusing traditional Democrats of racism, and in turn being accused of harboring antisemitic attitudes. Amid the political melee, Espitia accused Klein Knight of putting Wheeler’s life in danger simply by calling the police because, Espitia suggested, police officers are racists who present an inherent threat to people of color.

“She engaged in degrading, bigoted behavior against a young Black man, eventually calling security on him, despite being fully cognizant of the heightened dangers Black men face in this country in the presence of law enforcement,” Espitia said at the time. In the ensuing backlash, Espitia apologized. And despite his anti-police attitudes, he was tapped by House Democratic leaders to replace Klein Knight on the Criminal Justice committee.

It was an ugly series of confrontations the caucus appeared to have moved passed in the wake of the death of House Democratic Leader Renny Cushing in March. Then came Espitia’s apology, reopening the wounds.

Wheeler said Thursday that Espitia’s apology does not make sense, especially coming months after the original controversy.

“It’s inconsistent with the facts,” Wheeler said.

Alissandra Rodríguez-Murray, a progressive activist and spokesperson for the BIPOC Leaders and Organizers group that issued the first denunciation of Klein Knight, called Espitia’s apology disappointing.

“Rep. Klein Knight is still on her rampage against BIPOC organizers yet apparently, we were the ones causing party division. Really shows who @NHHouseDems *actually* care about (hint…it’s not Black and Brown people),” she tweeted.

Rodríguez-Murray has referred to Jewish people as “termites” on Twitter.

Asma Elhuni of the progressive action group Race Forward also called out Espitia for his apology.

“You have chosen to apologize to a White woman for trying to call security on a harmless young Black man legitimizing her racist fear of Black men. Do better! Siding with White fear vs naming racist behavior is called anti-Blackness!”

Espitia issued his apology as president of the New Hampshire Young Democrats. In February, using the same position as head of the Young Democrats, he issued a statement revoking the group’s endorsement of Klein Knight.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Klein Knight and others in the Democratic Jewish community have been pushing for Espitia to meet with them for months. Espitia indicated in his statement this week that dangers to the Jewish community in New Hampshire are a real concern.

“The Jewish community is experiencing a higher rate of anti-semitism in the past 2 years, and it is happening here in New Hampshire,” Espitia wrote.

Wheeler is a member of Rights and Democracy, RAD, as is state Rep. Maria Perez.

Perez was forced to apologize last year after she shared the statement “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free,” on social media. It is a slogan used by the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization to call for Israel’s destruction. The resulting controversy ended with Perez being booted from her leadership position.

Klein Knight has said RAD members took up a harassment campaign against her for criticizing Perez. That was the context for the January confrontation between Wheeler and Klein Knight.

Espitia himself has dealt with racism. Last year, the white supremacist group NSC 131 targeted Espitia with threats.

It is unclear how returning to this incident helps maintain unity inside the caucus, which is already facing a difficult political environment in November.

One of the speakers scheduled to appear at a New Hampshire Young Democrats event in Manchester Friday night is best known for speaking out about Israel, foreign policy and the Jews. And not in a good way.

For reasons unknown — the NH Young Democrats have declined multiple requests for comment — notorious Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar will be one of the keynote speakers at their Granite Slate Awards event, campaigning on behalf of fellow progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Omar has been a member of Congress for less than two years, and already she’s been pressured into making repeated public apologies for comments her fellow Democrats describe as “vile, anti-Semitic slurs.” Her insults toward Jews have been so offensive that House Democrats drafted a resolution condemning her anti-Semitism specifically, until pressure from progressives inside her party forced Speaker Nancy Pelosi to replace it with a watered-down version condemning hate in general.

“While we commend Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to bring to the floor the issue of anti-Semitism within its ranks, the politically expedient resolution failed to call out Representative Omar by name,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement afterward.

Among Rep. Omar’s most notorious anti-Semitic statements:

• “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”
• “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” explaining that American politicians’ support for Israel is motivated by Jewish money.
• Suggesting that American Jews have a dual loyalty to both the U.S. and Israel and their commitment to America is therefore questionable.

“This accusation that Jews have a dual loyalty or require people to pledge allegiance to a foreign power, it is an anti-Semitic charge that has been used against the Jewish people literally for hundreds of years, long before there was a state of Israel,” said Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

And just weeks ago, Omar was embroiled in another controversy over a tweet that appeared to imply businessman Leon Cooperman’s support for presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is based on the fact that they’re both Jewish.

Now, thanks to the New Hampshire Young Democrats and Senator Sanders, young Granite State progressives will get to hear Omar’s sparkling insights, up close and personal, in Manchester.

Sanders’ willingness to embrace progressives with anti-Israel, and sometimes anti-Semitic, views is not new. Just days ago, he was forced to fire a new staffer when his anti-Semitic tweets about “Jew money” were discovered, and several members of Sanders’ senior staff have been embroiled in controversies regarding Israel and anti-Semitism.

“Bernie Sanders should know better: Omar’s anti-Semitic and insensitive language does not reflect the values of Granite Staters, or the vast majority of Americans.  Bernie and Omar’s shared socialist pipe dream is sure to further solidify Granite Staters support for President Trump and Republicans across the state,” Republican National Committee Spokesperson Nina McLaughlin told NHJournal.

So why are the NH Young Democrats embracing a divisive figure like Omar? It certainly doesn’t fit in with their mission as New Hampshire’s official chapter of the Young Democrats of America.

“Our membership reflects the broad diversity of our nation and the Democratic Party,” the organization claims. “Acceptance of diverse viewpoints is fundamental to a well-functioning democracy.”

The YDA’s platform even includes a declaration on behalf of “Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish Democratic state,” which is ironic given the number of events Rep. Omar has attended with crowds shouting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a not-so-subtle call for the destruction of Israel.

The NH Young Democrats have offered no explanation of how Rep. Omar’s standing as an outspoken opponent of Israel fits in with the values of this local Democratic organization. And no elected NH Democratic officials have spoken out publicly about Omar’s attendance at the Granite Slate Awards. In fact, NH Senate Majority Leader (and 2020 candidate for governor) Sen. Dan Feltes sent out an email Wednesday urging Granite State Democrats to “get your tickets now” for the event.

In March, when the House was debating Omar’s anti-Semitic comments, not one of New Hampshire’s four Democratic members of Congress would condemn her offensive remarks. Several members of the Granite State’s Jewish community did speak out, however.

“I think Omar’s comments were anti-Semitic and I think they were unacceptable,” former N.H. Congressman Paul Hodes told NHJournal. “Had I been a member of Congress, I think –I hope– that I would have been clear in rejecting anti-Semitic comments and holding the speaker accountable.” Hodes was the first Jewish member of the House of Representatives elected from New Hampshire.

Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman of Temple B’nai Israel in Laconia, N.H. was more direct: “All I can say is that Rep. Omar’s comments were anti-Semitic, and that silence is wrong.”