Campus Activism and Controversy
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democratic Socialist candidate vying for New York's 13th Congressional District, publicly supported convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh during her 2014 immigration fraud trial, according to public records and social media posts. In December 2014, Chevalier urged followers to "Help Rasmea come home!" on Facebook while organizing bail funds for Odeh, who had been convicted of lying about her terrorist past on U.S. immigration forms.
Odeh, who was sentenced to life in Israel for her role in a 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing that killed two students, was deported to Jordan in 2017. Chevalier, then a Columbia University student, also defended Odeh during a 2014 campus protest where members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), later banned by Columbia for threatening rhetoric, disrupted a sexual assault awareness rally by chanting about Odeh's alleged rape in Israeli custody.
A Jewish student criticized the disruption in a letter to the Columbia Daily Spectator, prompting Chevalier to retaliate in her own letter. She accused the student of perpetuating "colonialist power structures" and endangering Palestinian peers by not blurring their faces in protest photos. Chevalier also claimed she had experienced "sexual violence in Jerusalem," a assertion she never elaborated on publicly.
Political Implications and Primary Challenge
Chevalier's activism extended to co-founding Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a group that advocates for "armed resistance" by Hamas. CUAD, unaffiliated with the university, drew condemnation in 2024 for withdrawing an apology after a member declared "Zionists don't deserve to live." The group also declared "Death to America" following U.S. military action against Iran in February 2024.
Now leading Rep. Adriano Espaillat in a tight Democratic primary, Chevalier has faced backlash for attending a pro-Hamas rally in Times Square after the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. Past social media posts reveal additional controversies, including denunciations of interracial relationships and U.S. military veterans as "child murderers."
Zohran Mamdani's late endorsement of Chevalier violated a reported agreement to remain neutral in the race, complicating Espaillat's re-election bid in a district with a significant Orthodox Jewish population. If elected, Chevalier would represent Columbia University's medical campus and surrounding areas, though her anti-Israel stance contrasts sharply with the district's traditional pro-Israel leanings.