Former NYC Councilman Tony Avella Attends Fundraiser Hosted by Hamas Sympathizer

Former NYC Councilman Tony Avella Attends Fundraiser Hosted by Hamas Sympathizer

By: Ellen Cans

Former City Council member Tony Avella attended a fundraiser hosted for him by an alleged Hamas supporter.  As reported by the NY Post,  Avella attended a fundraiser hosted by Chaudhry Anwar—whose personal Facebook page recently featured Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel as well as posting flattering images of Adolf Hitler.

Anwar, 63, is a community advocate for South Asian New Yorkers, but his social media page features videos from TikTok of Palestinian terrorists in hang gliders with emojis of the Palestinian flag and a flexing bicep.  “Long Live Islam. Long Live Jihad,” said one post Oct. 9, following the brutal surprise attack on Israel by Hamas.  Another Oct. 19 post showed off a 1935 speech from Hitler, complete with a photo of the Führer flanked with hearts and a Palestinian flag. Both posts have since been modified or removed.  “God is the greatest. Palestinian mujahideen inside Israel,” said another of Anwar’s posts dated Oct. 9 posting — which remains posted.

Avella still has political aspirations, and wants to unseat Republican  Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, who is running for reelection for city council district 19 in the upcoming Nov 7th election.  The seat represents northeastern parts of Queens including Whitestone, College Point, Bayside, Little Neck and Douglaston.  Avella, 72, from Whitestone, is a Democrat who previously served as Council Member from 2002 to 2009, and as State Senator from 2010 to 2018.  Avella won a primary race over the summer, gaining the Democratic ticket for the seat, by a very tight margin, of just 123 votes.  He had 51.1 percent of the votes in the party’s ranked choice primaries.  Paladino had defeated Avella in the general election two years ago gaining the seat.

Anwar, a supporter of Avella, was hosting a fundraiser for Avella on Oct. 20 at a private home in Douglaston, as per an event invitation seen by The Post. The two men have known each other a long time, as indicated by photos of the pair over the span of many years.  “RSVP to Mr. Anwar,” read the text invite, which listed Anwar’s cell phone number.

Bayside Rabbi Yossi Blesofsky said the whole matter was “extremely troubling”, particularly for this heavy-Jewish district.  “The fact that Avella is [having] a fundraiser [hosted by] this guy, to represent my community with a nice number of Jewish people and Holocaust survivors, it’s beyond. It’s very, very frightening. It’s extremely troubling and frightening,” he said.

In response to queries from the Post, Anwar replied saying: “Somebody . . . hacked my Facebook and my email”.  He added that he condemned the postings.

For his part, Avella told the Post that he has never known Anwar to make any anti-Semitic comments.  “I’ve known Anwar for many years, and he has never professed any antisemitic views. Anwar insists that his Facebook page was hacked and he did not make any of these terrible posts,” Avella said.