A radical teenage political activist who has rubbed shoulders with Congressional Democrats and a former Disney Channel actress are among those facing felony charges for vandalizing an Israeli company’s New Hampshire offices.
Calla Walsh, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Bridget Shergalis, of Dayville, Connecticut, were among three demonstrators with the anti-Israel group Palestine Action US arrested after they wrecked a Merrimack, New Hampshire, building housing Haifa-based defense contractor Elbit Systems, according to local reports.
Walsh, 19, who was a founding organizer of the anti-Israel group’s American arm and self-described “communist,” has been spotted over the years mingling with political machers such as Senator Elizabeth Warren and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
The daughter of Boston University English professor Chris Walsh and Mary Sullivan Walsh, a writing instructor at Harvard Extension School, which offers part-time online and continuing education courses, Calla Walsh has received fawning coverage in the press as a darling of leftist political activism in New England.
The New York Times and Boston Magazine cheered the then-16-year-old’s involvement in the senate campaign for Ed Markey as crucial to the Democratic pol’s 2020 victory.
The teenage radical has long been an incendiary critic of the United States’ closest ally in the Middle East. She previously promoted on social media the Mapping Project, which listed the names and addresses of nearly 500 institutions in Massachusetts, many of them linked to the Jewish community or Israel; and has shared online that “there is no ‘peaceful solution’ under military occupation” for Palestinians.
Shergalis, 27, appeared in the 2011 Disney sketch comedy series “So Random!” along with films and television shows, including “Bad Teacher,” “All About Steve,” and “Criminal Minds.”
“This is what happens when limousine liberals who grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth are beholden to TikTok trends rather than having facts on situations,” Garrett Ventry, a Republican strategist, told The Post.
“The continuation of the false equivalence between Israel and Palestine shows just a lack of understanding of history and morals,” he added.
On Monday, demonstrators were spotted blocking the driveway to the Elbit Systems offices while chanting support for Palestine, NBC Boston reported.
The building meanwhile had been graffitied with red spray paint and smoke could be seen billowing from the roof.
Authorities inside found further destruction by protesters, including smashed skylights and damaged HVAC equipment, the outlet reported. An incendiary device similar to the ones used to produce the smoke seen on the roof had also been discovered on one of the suspects.
Walsh and Shergalis, along with a third demonstrator, Sophie Marika Ross, 22, of Housatonic, Massachusetts, face a slew of felony charges for vandalizing Elbit’s offices including rioting, sabotage, and attempted burglary, along with one count each of misdemeanor criminal trespassing, according to Patch.
Walsh, who was held on $20,000 bail, whined on X after ponying up the fees that she is “facing an extreme level of political repression from the state” and that “Palestine will be free.”
“This is outright violence. It’s criminality. It is malicious targeting of property and of people,” Jonah Steinberg, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League in New England, told The Post.
“In this time of Hamas terrorism against Israel, it is extremely concerning if Hamas is setting the example for people who consider themselves activists on this side of the sea.”
Walsh any wrongdoing for rioting and vandalizing Elbit System’s offices with her organization, and her mother called for the “totally inflated and embellished” charges to be dropped.
“Protesting genocide is not a crime. Genocide is the crime,” Calla Walsh said.
Disney Channel, Shergalis and Christopher Walsh did not immediately respond to a request for comment.