Presumptive Democratic congresswoman and Zohran Mamdani-backed socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, is dating Mamdani’s chief legal counsel, 48-year-old Ramzi Kassem, who is best known for defending al Qaeda terrorists, including a “close associate” of Osama bin Laden.
Chevalier confirmed the relationship in a statement shared with City & State.
“Ramzi Kassem and I met outside an ICE detention facility, both working to free someone unjustly held,” she said. “Over the years, as we collaborated on different projects, our professional acquaintance became a friendship, which grew into a romantic relationship. I’m deeply grateful for such a loving, supportive partner – he’s been a refuge these past few years.”
City & State reported that the couple became official in 2023, when Kassem helped Chevalier, a City University of New York graduate student, with her research paper “analyzing the racism and Islamophobia of a Customs & Border Protection anti-terror unit.”
Mamdani tapped Kassem, who teaches at CUNY’s law school, to serve as his chief counsel in January. Before that, Kassem represented a slew of al Qaeda terrorists, including Ahmed al-Darbi, who was convicted in 2017 for the bombing of a French oil tanker, and several other Guantanamo Bay detainees, most notably Shaker Aamer, a “close associate of Osama bin Laden” who fought in the 2001 Battle of Tora Bora, where U.S. forces stormed an al Qaeda complex in Afghanistan where bin Laden was hiding.
Both Kassem and Chevalier were deeply involved in anti-Israel campus activism while students at Columbia University.
Kassem, who attended Columbia College before moving on to Columbia Law School on a fellowship funded by Paul Soros, lobbied to rename a sandwich called the “Israeli wrap” in the student dining hall, claiming the terminology was offensive to Muslims. Chevalier cofounded Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), the notoriously militant campus group that openly supports “armed resistance” by Hamas and posted a statement declaring “Death to America” after the United States launched the war against Iran. Kassem defended the Syrian-born Columbia graduate student and CUAD organizer Mahmoud Khalil after the Trump administration revoked his green card.
The relationship is an indicator that the insurgent Democratic Socialists of America are embracing the tactics of establishment figures in the Democratic Party, using romantic relationships to climb the political ladder.
Chevalier started dating Kassem well before launching her congressional campaign, placing her closer to Mamdani and better positioning her to receive his endorsement. Indeed, a Mamdani spokeswoman told City & State that the New York City mayor “has been aware of their relationship for some time” and discussed Chevalier’s campaign with Kassem before endorsing her. It’s aligned with the political moves of Kamala Harris, who dated California Democratic kingmaker Willie Brown before launching her first political campaign for San Francisco district attorney.
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