CAMERA previously criticized The New York Times for rebranding anti-Zionism as “sharp criticism” of Israel. It appears NBC News has done the same linguistic gymnastics in its recent article, “Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat loses primary to Mamdani-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier.”
The article, by Bridget Bowman and Ben Kamisar, whitewashed (or in this case, “blue-and-whitewashed”) unabashedly anti-Zionist politician Darializa Avila Chevalier’s views, labeling her a “vocal critic of Israel” when she is better described as virulently anti-Israel. When the authors described the Oct. 8, 2023, Times Square pro-Hamas rally she attended as “pro-Palestinian,” they likewise softened what can only be described as Avila Chevalier’s unmistakable, pro-terror positions.
As a Columbia University student in 2014, Avila Chevalier helped raise bail money for convicted terrorist Rasmea Odeh, who participated in plotting a terror attack that killed two in a Jerusalem supermarket bombing. Odeh also planted a bomb at a British consulate in Jerusalem. Two years later, Avila Chevalier helped co-found Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD). One of CUAD’s tenets is to “act in full support of the Palestinian resistance.” She was also a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, which has since been banned from Columbia University for various infractions, including “threatening rhetoric and intimidation.”
In 2020, Avila Chevalier posted on social media that “Israel doesn’t exist.” NBC mentioned the post with no additional context, in a sentence that included other of Avila Chevalier’s comments on policing, prisons and deportations. Such a statement is both delusional and eliminationist rhetoric, not the language of a “vocal critic.”
In further support of categorizing her as only a critic, the authors cited how Avila Chevalier called Israel’s war against Hamas a genocide, and how she “participated in pro-Palestinian protests” at Columbia University.
But such a description significantly underscores her involvement in what occurred at Columbia University. Avila Chevalier did not merely “participate” in “pro-Palestinian protests” there. In 2024, as an alumna, and together with Mahmoud Khalil, through CUAD, she helped organize the infamous Columbia encampments and the takeover of Hamilton Hall. The encampments and related protests created such a hostile environment for students that classes and exams went remote and Jewish students were advised to effectively go into hiding.
NBC dramatically minimized Avila Chevalier’s role in the takeover at Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, marking her as merely “present” and repeating her assessment that the event was “quite horrific.” The neutral statement made it unclear to readers whether Avila Chevalier was on the side of the violent vandals or the janitors who were held hostage in Hamilton Hall. Perhaps readers would have understood she supported the hostage-takers had NBC reported that Avila Chevalier physically participated in the event, having told TIME magazine she was among those who tried to prevent police from entering.
Avila Chevalier’s support for taking hostages is apparently intercontinental.
She attended a rally on Oct. 8, 2023, that was so pro-Hamas, it was described by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul as “abhorrent and morally repugnant” and condemned even by then-candidate Zohran Mamdani. NBC News misled uninformed readers by labeling the rally simply “pro-Palestinian,” when in reality, it was celebrating terror attacks that involved murder, rape and kidnap just 24 hours earlier, before any Israeli military action had commenced in Gaza.
Her endorsement of terror extended beyond her attendance at the rally and work to actively shape the antisemitic, anti-Israel climate on Columbia’s campus (as an alumna). While running for election in the democratic primary, she refused to condemn Hamas or the October 7 massacre. Her failure to do so was so troubling that the Broadway Democrats, a liberal New York group that supported staunchly anti-Israel Zohran Mamdani for mayor, declined to endorse her in the primary.
NBC’s blue-and-whitewashing of Avila Chevalier’s record demonstrates how easily semantics can be weaponized to obscure dangerous radicalism. Labeling a “critic of Israel” someone who co-founded an organization dedicated to “full support of the Palestinian resistance,” supports Hamas’ actions and actively blockaded law enforcement during a violent campus building takeover sanitizes the reality of her actions. NBC’s use of gentle euphemisms to mask eliminationist rhetoric and explicit proximity to terror shifts the boundaries of acceptable political discourse. NBC should be able to accurately label extremism. If it cannot, it aids and abets candidates who espouse dangerous views.