Society · Crime Problem · June 15, 2026

A Socialist Leading a New York House Primary Once Cheered a Convicted Palestinian Terrorist.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old Democratic Socialist, is running a genuinely competitive primary against five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY)in New York’s 13th Congressional District. A June poll commissioned by Justice Democrats had her ahead, 39 to 35, with the primary set for June 23. She is endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D).

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Avila Chevalier’s record as a Columbia student activist includes public praise for Rasmea Odeh— a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who was convicted in an Israeli court for a 1969 supermarket bombing that killed two students, and later convicted in U.S. federal court of immigration fraud and deported. In December 2014, during Odeh’s American trial, Avila Chevalier posted “Help Rasmea come home!” with three heart emoji.

One clarification matters up front: Avila Chevalier is a candidate, not a criminal defendant. This page is about her documented public statements and activism — what she said, whom she praised, and what is on the record — not an alleged crime by her. The crimes here are Odeh’s, and they are settled.

39–35 — Avila Chevalier's lead over Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in a June 2026 Data for Progress poll for Justice Democrats · Source: Semafor
June 23, 2026 — the NY-13 Democratic primary date — a competitive, winnable seat covering upper Manhattan and the Bronx
2 killed — students Leon Kanner, 21, and Edward Joffe, 22, in the 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing for which Rasmea Odeh was convicted · Source: Jerusalem Post
Deported 2017 — Odeh pleaded guilty to U.S. immigration fraud for concealing the bombing conviction on her citizenship application; her citizenship was revoked and she was removed to Jordan · Source: Detroit News; ICE
💗💗💗 — the three hearts on Avila Chevalier's December 8, 2014 'Help Rasmea come home!' Facebook post during Odeh's trial · Source: Washington Free Beacon; Canary Mission

§ 01 / The Candidate and the Race

Avila Chevalier is a graduate student and an investigator with the New York Office of the Public Defender. Her campaign is backed by Justice Democrats and the Democratic Socialists of America, and on May 29, 2026, Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D)endorsed her over the incumbent — a notable move given Espaillat’s seniority. The race is not a long shot: multiple outlets have reported it as a genuine toss-up, and the Justice Democrats poll put her narrowly ahead. That competitiveness is what makes her record a live public question rather than a footnote.

Keep Reading

Society · TDS Watch

Robert De Niro: 'I Can't Love the Country That's Led by Donald Trump'

Read →

PIX11 News — NY-13 candidates face off in a feisty forum

§ 02 / Who Is Rasmea Odeh

The facts about Odeh are not in dispute. In 1969, a bomb planted at the SuperSol supermarket on Agron Street in Jerusalem killed two Hebrew University students, Leon Kanner and Edward Joffe. Odeh, a member of the PFLP, was convicted by an Israeli court in 1970 and sentenced to life; she served about a decade before her release in a 1979 prisoner exchange. Decades later, after immigrating to the United States and becoming a citizen, she was found to have concealed that conviction on her naturalization application. She pleaded guilty to immigration fraud in federal court in Detroit in April 2017, had her citizenship revoked, and was deported to Jordan that September.

The Rasmea Odeh Record

1969: SuperSol supermarket bombing in Jerusalem kills students Leon Kanner (21) and Edward Joffe (22).

1970: Odeh convicted by an Israeli court; sentenced to life as a member of the PFLP.

2017: Pleads guilty in U.S. federal court to immigration fraud for concealing the conviction; citizenship revoked.

Sept. 2017: Deported to Jordan by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

§ 03 / 'Help Rasmea Come Home'

During Odeh’s immigration-fraud case, a campaign of support formed around her on the activist left, framing her as a persecuted organizer rather than a convicted bomber. The Free Beacon — corroborated independently by the activist-tracking site Canary Mission — documents Avila Chevalier’s December 8, 2014 Facebook post promoting Odeh’s defense and her petition:

“Help Rasmea come home! 💗💗💗”
Darializa Avila Chevalier · Facebook · December 8, 2014 · per Washington Free Beacon and Canary Mission

The post is no longer live — like much of her early social-media activity, it was deleted — but it is preserved in the Free Beacon’s and Canary Mission’s records. Canary Mission is an advocacy organization, and its framing is adversarial; the value here is documentary, and the “Help Rasmea come home” language appears consistently across both sources.

Cartoon satire: a smartphone screen with social-media posts dissolving under a 'deleted' stamp as an investigator's hand catches a fluttering screenshot — Much of Avila Chevalier's early activist social-media record — including the Odeh post — has been deleted, but it survives in Free Beacon and CNN KFile screenshots.

§ 04 / The Columbia Incident

The Free Beacon also reports an episode from Avila Chevalier’s undergraduate years at Columbia. In November 2014, she and fellow members of Students for Justice in Palestine were accused of disrupting a campus rally against sexual assault by interjecting chants about Odeh. A Jewish student published a letter in the Columbia Daily Spectator objecting that the group had “hijacked” the event; Avila Chevalier responded with a counter-letter accusing the student of “silencing survivors” and endangering “Palestinian students’ safety.”

To be precise about sourcing: the “taunted a Jewish student” framing is the Free Beacon’s characterization, resting on that published exchange of letters and the account of an anonymous former Columbia student. The objecting student is not named in the public record, and this page does not name them. What is documented is the public counter-letter and its language.

Keep Reading

Society · TDS Watch

A UFC Fighter Won at the White House — Then Ended His Interview With a Slur Aimed at Michelle Obama

Read →

§ 05 / The Deleted Record

The Odeh post is not the only item that has disappeared from Avila Chevalier’s feeds. In June 2026, CNN’s KFile surfaced a set of her deleted tweets — calls to abolish police, prisons, borders, and deportations, and a repost of a graphic reading “Trick question — Israel doesn’t exist!” Asked about them, she characterized the posts as old and her views as evolved, while standing by her opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel. She was arrested in April 2026 while protesting weapons sales to Israel, and helped organize Columbia’s 2024 Gaza encampment as an alumna.

Cartoon satire: a ballot box on a Harlem street corner with a polling needle reading 39 to 35 and a calendar circled June 23 2026 primary — A 39–35 lead, a June 23 primary, and a paper trail that keeps getting shorter. The deletions are part of why the record is a campaign issue.

PIX11 News — Darializa Avila Chevalier discusses her NY-13 campaign

§ 06 / The Stakes

This is not a protest candidacy in a safe seat. NY-13 is a Democratic district, the primary is the real contest, and the polling says Avila Chevalier could win it — which would send to Congress a member whose activist record includes praising a convicted bomber as someone to “help come home.” The Democratic establishment is split: Mamdani is with her; House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) backs Espaillat, and City Council Member Eric Dinowitz (D), who is Jewish, publicly criticized Mamdani for the endorsement.

Who's Backing Whom in NY-13

For Avila Chevalier: Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), Justice Democrats, the Democratic Socialists of America.

For Espaillat: House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); AIPAC-aligned support.

Caught in the middle: Council Member Eric Dinowitz (D), who criticized Mamdani's endorsement.

Voters in NY-13 get to weigh all of it on June 23. The record is the record: a person convicted of a 1969 bombing that killed two students, and a rising candidate who once asked her neighbors to help bring that person “home.”