I was arrested protesting Netanyahu’s New York visit. Here’s why we took a stand | Darializa Avila Chevalier

I refuse to play host to a man who has overseen the slaughter or injury of more than 64,000 children in Gaza with American taxpayer dollars. I refuse to be complicit in genocide

Benjamin Netanyahu belongs at The Hague; not in the streets of New York City, and certainly not before the United Nations general assembly. The international criminal court has a warrant out for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UN’s own commission of inquiry has found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and named Netanyahu as its chief architect.

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 in Gaza with American taxpayer dollars. I refuse to be complicit in genocide.

That is why I was arrested today outside of the United Nations alongside hundreds of my fellow New Yorkers.

Israel has killed more than 73,000 people in Gaza. It has bombed hospitals, schools, places of worship, fishing boats, and refugee tents. It has collectively starved an entire population as a tool in its genocide.