As Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to take the podium inside the United Nations, a Democratic congressional candidate was being led away in handcuffs outside.  

Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional District, was among at least 30 people arrested Thursday during a protest against the Israeli prime minister’s appearance at the UN General Assembly. 

The demonstration, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace amongst other progressive organizations, saw protesters block a roadway near the UN headquarters.

Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon and New York City Council member Chi Ossé were also detained as well as whistle blower Chelsea Manning.

In an extraordinary first-person account to The Guardian, Chevalier confirmed her arrest outside the UN and framed the demonstration as an act of political resistance towards funding Israel through US taxpayer money.

‘As the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th congressional district, I refuse to allow a war criminal to roam the streets of our city unchallenged. I refuse to play host to a man who has overseen the slaughter or injury of more than 64,000 children with American taxpayer dollars.’

She continued, ‘That is why I was arrested today outside of the United Nations alongside hundreds of my fellow New Yorkers.’

In her account, she accused Netanyahu and the Israeli government of responsibility for devastating conditions in Gaza using the contentious term ‘genocide’ and condemned US military support for Israel, additionally blaming the US for ‘shielding Netanyahu from prosecution.’ 

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity connected to the Gaza conflict. Netanyahu and Israeli officials have rejected the allegations of genocide and say its military campaign is aimed at Hamas.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional District, said she was taken into custody on Thursday as hundreds of demonstrators blocked a street near the UN headquarters ahead of Netanyahu’s address to the General Assembly

As Netanyahu prepared to defend Israel’s conduct before the General Assembly, demonstrators outside were chanting against the war and demanding an end to U.S. support for Israel. Reuters reported that protesters described the conflict as an issue of American responsibility because US taxpayer money supports Israel

The protest took place at the corner of First Avenue and East 39th Street, only blocks from the UN, where demonstrators staged a sit-in and blocked traffic. Police subsequently moved in to make arrests. City & State reported that roughly 250 protesters took part in the action, including several elected officials and political candidates

The confrontation outside the UN also comes against the backdrop of a fierce political dispute over whether American officials could or should act on that warrant.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has previously said he would seek to enforce the warrant against Netanyahu if legally empowered to do so, although the issue of municipal authority has remained disputed. However, President Donald Trump has declared that Netanyahu will not be arrested on US soil.

Chevalier also attacked what she described as the ‘establishment’ of both major American parties for continuing to support Israel.

That language goes straight to the heart of the political insurgency that carried her to the Democratic nomination.

A self-described Democratic Socialist and longtime pro-Palestinian activist, Chevalier stunned New York’s Democratic establishment in June when she defeated five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary for the heavily Democratic 13th District.

She has campaigned on Democratic Socialist themes, opposition to US military intervention and a fundamental redistribution of government priorities toward housing, healthcare and other domestic programs. Her campaign describes her as a community organizer with more than a decade of activism in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

Her political ascent has already unsettled sections of the Democratic establishment.

The Washington Post reported before her primary victory that Republicans were seeking to use her record and controversial past comments to portray her as emblematic of the party’s leftward shift. 

The socialist, who is backed by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has faced scrutiny for some extreme views, including wanting to abolish all prisons and police, get rid of the border, and seizing all properties from landlords and handing them to the government 

Actor Hannah Einbinder, whistleblower Chelsea Manning and comedian Caleb Hearon were also detained by the New York Police Department

Demonstrators burn an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protest his address at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly

Her past, now-deleted, social media posts included rants about interracial relationships.

She wrote that black and Arab men who are with white women ‘fetishize ugly colonizer women.’

She also previously called for ‘abolishing the border’, and when pressed over that view, she responded: ‘Yes literally abolish the border, all deportation is wrong.’

Avila Chevalier also sparked backlash for joking about wiping her dirty hands on the American flag, and she has previously described the US as a ‘disgrace.’ 

The arrest gives Avila Chevalier an extraordinary new chapter in a congressional campaign that has already become a symbol of the Democratic Party’s increasingly bitter ideological struggle between its progressive left and its more established political wing.

As Netanyahu prepared to defend Israel’s conduct before the General Assembly, demonstrators outside were chanting against the war and demanding an end to US support for Israel. 

Protesters, however, described the conflict as an issue of American responsibility because US taxpayer money supports Israel.

For Avila Chevalier, the contrast was precisely the point. She has argued that Washington spends enormous sums supporting overseas military operations while communities in her own district struggle with poverty, housing insecurity and cuts to public assistance. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted his nation’s right to wage war against Iran in a defiant speech to world leaders at the UN General Assembly. He also defended Israel against criticism over violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, dismissing what he described as exaggerated coverage of the issue, while making clear he did not approve of attacks against Palestinians

For Chevalier, however, the confrontation was about more than one speech. She has presented her candidacy as part of a broader movement challenging U.S. involvement in overseas conflicts while arguing that government resources should instead be directed toward domestic needs

‘I’m sick and tired of my taxpayer dollars going towards an active genocide,’ New York City Council member Chi Ossé told PIX 11, who was also taken into custody with Avila Chevalier

‘Our enemy is a system where billionaires get rich from stoking hatred and war while our own communities go without’, said Avila Chevalier’s account.

In her account of the protest, she invoked Martin Luther King Jr’s opposition to excessive military spending and presented her campaign as a challenge to what she calls the American ‘insatiable war machine.’ 

Avila Chevalier has ensured that her campaign is no longer merely part of the ideological battle consuming New York Democrats.

As of now Mamdani has not weighed in on the arrest of Chevalier, whom he has endorsed.