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<\/a><\/p>\nCongressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier speaks during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at King’s Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI think the targeting of civilians is wrong in any context, including on Oct. 7,\u201d Avila Chevalier said when asked by the editor-at-large of the leftist Jewish Currents about slogans legitimizing \u201cresistance\u201d that appeared at the rally. Avila Chevalier previously defended her attendance at the rally to City & State in June.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what matters is international law, and what international law condemns and protects,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it condemns the targeting of civilians, and it also protects the right to resist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beinart, who is an outspoken critic of Israel and a journalism professor at the City University of New York, pushed back, saying that he \u201cdidn\u2019t see any discussion of international law in that rally on the signs or the slogans of the kind that you are offering now \u2026 Were you uncomfortable by that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Avila Chevalier responded that, at any protest, there will always be \u201cfolks who are voicing opinions that you might not agree with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew even as early as Oct. 8, right, where this cycle was headed, and I knew the things that I did have power over,\u201d Avila Chevalier said. \u201cThe thing that we have power over is the fact that our tax dollars are going towards an apartheid state that has a pattern of engaging in this type of retribution against civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who helped organize pro-Palestinian encampments at Columbia University, ousted incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat last month in the Democratic primary for New York\u2019s 13th Congressional District, which covers parts of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we make it clear. The politics of the past ends today,\u201d Avila Chevalier told attendees at an election night watch party, where the crowd erupted into cheers of \u201cFree Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
She joined two other progressive and Israel-critical candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in winning upset primary victories, cementing the anti-Israel mayor\u2019s influence in the city\u2019s politics and likely extending the left\u2019s gains in Congress since the wins came in deeply Democratic districts.<\/p>\n
Beinart\u2019s interview offered an extensive look into the Israel-related positions that became flashpoints during Avila Chevalier\u2019s campaign, including her attendance at the Oct. 8 rally, which was condemned at the time by Mamdani and fellow congressional candidate Brad Lander, and past criticism of former President Joe Biden\u2019s policy toward Israel and Gaza in a since-deleted X account.<\/p>\n
Many of the attendees on Friday\u2019s Zoom call appeared unimpressed by the candidate\u2019s responses.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is well intentioned, but also clearly is not familiar with the nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,\u201d said Hillel Schenker, a veteran American-Israeli peace activist.<\/p>\n
Other attendees defended Avila Chevalier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am surprised and disturbed by many of the comments made here that are just dismissing her comments and her approach to expressing her belief in human rights and a world without hierarchies of peoples,\u201d wrote an attendee with the screen name Benjy Ben Baruch.<\/p>\n
To kick off the interview, Avilia Chevalier described her internship in the West Bank as a 20-year-old Columbia University student, saying that at the time she observed \u201csystems and how they were impacting Palestinian people and Jewish folks, and how people were being treated based off of those state structures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beinart then asked Avila Chevalier why she believed Israel had become so \u201ccentral for progressive politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is a war machine that is insatiable,\u201d Avila Chevalier replied. \u201cAn American war machine, the Israeli war machine, that we fund with our tax dollars as Americans, and instead what we could be funding is our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked by Beinart what she wanted to see as the future of the region, Avila Chevalier voiced her support for a one-state solution, which she described as \u201cone governing body, one state that sees everyone as equal before the law, regardless of race, religion, identity, ethnicity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen over the course of history that attempts at two states have failed, and even so, I think in this question of like, well, do we partition to begin with, that inherently is divisive,\u201d Avila Chevalier said.<\/p>\n
Avila Chevalier also stopped short of saying that \u201cZionism is racism\u201d when asked if she agreed with the statement by Beinart.<\/p>\n
\u201cZionism is an ideology that creates this type of hierarchy that I\u2019m talking about, and I just don\u2019t believe that we should be striving for a world where there is a hierarchy among people,\u201d Avila Chevalier replied.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of the conversation, Beinart referenced scrutiny Avila Chevalier had drawn for her 2022 statements in which she condemned Dominican nationalism and said it was the reason she didn\u2019t put the flag in her social media bio.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you see as the fundamental differences between Zionism as a form of Jewish nationalism, the Dominican nationalism that you have had some concerns about, and Palestinian nationalism,\u201d Beinart asked Avila Chevalier, whose parents are Dominican immigrants.<\/p>\n
In response, Avila Chevalier referenced racist attacks she had endured for those comments in the lead-up to the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it\u2019s not the majority of Dominicans, I would never say that, I think there is a faction that supports this ideology that I have just always found incredibly violent, and the type of rhetoric that I was subjected to, I think, is reflective of the very thing I was criticizing, and I see a lot of that in Zionism as well,\u201d Avila Chevalier responded.<\/p>\n
The candidate added that, in contrast to Zionism and Dominican nationalism, Haitian and Palestinian discussions of \u201cliberation\u201d were rooted in \u201ca more universalist understanding of human rights before the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was there in Palestine, you know, some of the most dehumanizing language I\u2019ve ever heard, right, was coming from Israeli soldiers towards children,\u201d Avila Chevalier said, adding that she saw the movements \u201cin very different lights.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked whether she worried that \u201cHamas\u2019s version of Palestinian nationalism may have exclusionary elements as well,\u201d Avila Chevalier replied: \u201cThat\u2019s why I worry about nationalism point blank.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNationalism itself always gives me pause, but I think it\u2019s important to also consider the context in which we\u2019re talking about, like what group is engaging in this conversation, right, and the power dynamics at play there,\u201d Avila Chevalier continued.<\/p>\n