Darializa Avila Chevalier

Avila Chevalier accuses Israel of committing genocide and describes it as an apartheid state with a pattern of retribution against civilians. She has framed United States and Israeli military spending as a war machine funded by American tax dollars, and she cast her opponent in the primary as bought by the Israeli lobby, citing his support from AIPAC. As a Columbia organizer she helped lead the campus encampment that demanded the university call for a ceasefire and divest from Israel.

Chevalier attended an antisemitic rally in Times Square on October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas terror attack on Israel. Footage published by the Times of Israel showed her, wearing a keffiyeh, near a protester holding a sign reading Zionism is genocide; the rally featured chants including resistance is justified and globalize the intifada, and some participants celebrated the Israeli death toll. Avila Chevalier has repeatedly defended attending. Asked about slogans legitimizing resistance, she said the targeting of civilians is wrong in any context, and framed the matter around international law, which she said condemns the targeting of civilians and also protects the right to resist. According to reporting by the Times of Israel, she declined during the campaign to directly condemn Hamas by name, saying such a demand ignores decades of occupation.