News - Middle East: Red paint poured from the roof of a building, erasing the signs, front door and windows of the US branch of Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons supplier, in Merrimack, New Hampshire.

On November 20, 2023, Sophie Ross, Bridget Shergalis, and Calla Walsh, three pro-Palestine activists climbed onto Elbit Systems’roof and defaced the building with red paint to show the arms manufacturer that it cannot get away with genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The three protesters are members of the US branch of Palestine Action, a group that uses direct action tactics to shut down and disrupt the Israeli regime’s multinational arms dealers, in particular, those who provide weapons used in Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza.
Walsh, 19, Ross, 22, and Shergalis, 27, were charged with riot, conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, burglary, and conspiracy to commit falsifying physical evidence for confronting the Israeli-linked arms factory, whose weapons have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7.
According to the New Hampshire Office of the Attorney General, each of the above-mentioned charges is punishable by 3.5 to 7 years in the state prison.
Each of them could face a prison sentence of up to 28 years for disrupting the production of weapons used to murder Palestinians in Gaza for nearly five months.
Elbit, predictably, maintains close ties with local politicians in New Hampshire in order to shield it from angry pro-Palestine activists and have them booked under harsh laws.
State Attorney General John Formella, who took control of the case in January, openly claimed that the targeting of Elbit amounted to “antisemitic” activity, equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
“We will do everything we can to ensure that these cases are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that justice is served,” he was quoted as saying soon after taking office.
Shortly after the protest, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) also said the action must be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”, building a case against pro-Palestine activists.
The antiwar group CODEPINK revealed earlier that Shaheen has taken at least $10,500 in campaign contributions from Elbit Systems, which is the Israeli regime’s largest military contractor.
On Thursday, the three young women appeared in Nashua Court. The state presented the three with plea agreements that could keep the cases from going to trial.
They are all due back in court in April for a dispositional conference.
A fourth person, Paige Belanger, 32, was arrested in connection with the protest in January. She is also charged with riot, criminal trespass and criminal mischief, but she has yet to be indicted by a grand jury.