Darializa Avila Chevalier, a candidate for Congress in New York City, has defended participating in an anti-Israel, pro-Hamas rally on October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas onslaught in Israel, an event that saw participants celebrate the high number of Israeli fatalities in the worst terror attack in the Jewish state’s history.

Avila Chevalier, 32, is running against US Rep. Adriano Espaillat for New York’s 13th Congressional District in Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

Avila Chevalier is a far-left, anti-Israel activist, and while Espaillat has longstanding progressive bona fides, he is a centrist Democrat when it comes to Israel.

The race is another test case for how anti-Israel activism is roiling US politics, particularly on the left, and illustrates the struggle between the Democratic Party’s centrist establishment and its far-left wing.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed Avila Chevalier last week, giving her campaign a major boost. Espaillat had endorsed Mamdani in the general election and Mamdani had reportedly pledged to support Espaillat’s congressional run. Mamdani’s about-face shook confidence in his trustworthiness among some political operatives in the city, Politico reported.

Images of Avila Chevalier at the anti-Israel rally over two-and-a-half years ago circulated after the endorsement. Avila Chevalier was not well known at the time and her participation in the rally had been previously reported by Canary Mission.

Times of Israel footage from the rally showed Avila Chevalier, wearing a keffiyeh, standing next to a protester holding a sign that said, “Zionism is genocide.”

The Times Square rally was largely a celebration of the Hamas invasion, which saw terrorist invaders slaughter more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, and take 251 hostage.

The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted, “Resistance is justified,” “Globalize the intifada,” and “Smash the settler Zionist state.” They mocked and made obscene........

© The Times of Israel