The Guardian recently published a truly disgusting opinion piece by New York Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier entitled “I was arrested protesting Netanyahu’s New York visit. Here’s why we took a stand.”
When Ms. Chevalier won her primary, I wrote about her anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric as well as her outright hostility to the United States and Western civilization more broadly.
Based on her ideological background and past rhetoric and actions, the completely dishonest and inflammatory nature of her piece shouldn’t be surprising, nor is The Guardian giving a platform to such drivel. However, even given the author and publication, some of what was included, and excluded, was a bit shocking.
Let’s start by her invoking Dr. Martin Luther King in an anti-Israel screed. For most Americans, Dr. King is an icon. I made a point of all my children watching a video of his “I Have a Dream” speech at a young age, because of the incredible way he described the dream of equality.
I find a racist Congressional candidate using his name to smear Israel particularly offensive. It also ignores the most basic fact about Dr. King: he was an unapologetic Zionist. He defended Israel and Zionism and called out rhetoric like that of Ms. Chevalier, Mayor Mamdani and others as antisemitic. He famously stated “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking antisemitism.” Using his name to promote an anti-Zionist and antisemitic agenda requires an incredible lack of self-awareness, lack of shame, and lack of belief in your readers’ knowledge of history.
Ms. Chevalier also goes on to falsely list many of Israel’s “crimes,” which she claims are personally those of the Prime Minister while saying nothing of the region surrounding it.
October 7? Hamas? Hezbollah? The Houthis? None worthy of a mention.
Iran? Only mentioned to point out that Iranian families are not enemies. But the mullah regime and its numerous crimes against humanity, attacks on Israel, the United States and the broader region? Its mass slaughter of its own people? Not worth a mention.
Based on Ms. Chevalier’s understanding of the situation, the Middle East is a tranquil and peaceful region. The only exception to that rule is Benjamin Netanyahu, who, with the help and funding of the Biden and Trump administrations, decided one day to just start killing civilians for sport.
And not only is the U.S. funding what she absurdly calls a genocide, but she also bizarrely claims that funding to Israel is responsible for poverty in her district. She also doesn’t seem to understand which parts of the government fund what projects, because she claims foreign military assistance is why certain state and city-funded programs aren’t sufficient.
Ms. Chevalier is used to being just an angry, hate-filled activist. She certainly has been prolific in that regard.
However, she now is likely to become a member of Congress in January. For the sake of her constituents and the national responsibilities she is about to take on, we should all hope she spends the next few months learning how the system — a system she is about to join as a very senior member — works in the real world rather than in the most disgusting antisemitic fever swamps where she has spent her career.
Maybe then she’ll realize that Israel and the Jews are not responsible for every wrong she claims she wants to right.
As for The Guardian, we can only hope one day their own readers will hold them accountable for misleading them on a daily basis.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
