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Within Our Lifetime

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Within Our Lifetime - United For Palestine
PurposeAnti-Zionist activism
Location
Founder and chair
Nerdeen Kiswani
Websitewolpalestine.com

Within Our Lifetime - United For Palestine (WOL),[1] is a pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist activist organization primarily active in New York City. The group has been one of the key organizers in the city's ongoing Israel-Hamas war protests.[2][unreliable source?]

The organization was founded and is currently led by the Palestinian-American Muslim Nerdeen Kiswani.[1] They are based out of Bay Ridge, a neighborhood in Brooklyn that is home to the majority of Palestinians in New York City.[3][4]

WOL organizes around four principles: the Palestinian right of return, anti-Zionism, the Palestinian right to resist, and internationalism.[5] While the organization is centered around Palestinian liberation, they are also generally anti-imperialist.[5]

WOL has been condemned by local and national politicians (including Eric Adams and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) for its support of Hamas.[6][7][8] One member of WOL attacked a Jewish counterprotestor, Matt Greenman, in 2022.

Origin and description

WOL was founded in 2015 as NYC Students for Justice in Palestine.[9] It took on its current name in 2018.[9] The name "Within Our Lifetime" was chosen as a reflection of Nerdeen Kiswani's confidence in an imminent Palestinian liberation,[1] as reflected in one of the group's protest chants, "We will free Palestine, within our lifetime!".[10]

Kiswani is the child of Palestinian refugees from Beit Iksa.[9] She was born in Jordan but grew up in Brooklyn, where her parents owned a restaurant.[9] She was formerly president of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at CUNY School of Law.[11][12] Besides Kiswani, other prominent organizers include Abdullah Akl and Fatima Mohammed.[9]

WOL is active among youth[13] and on university campuses, primarily in the New York City area.[14][15] The organization is Palestinian-led, and along with SJP is considered to have become a hybrid organization that includes activists from different backgrounds involved in pro-Palestinian activism.[14] Jews from the anti-Zionist sect Neturei Karta have often participated in WOL's protests.[16][17][18]

Within Our Lifetime is not legally registered as a nonprofit and has no paid staff.[9] It has a few dozen members and its demonstrations typically attract a few hundred participants.[9]

Israel-Hamas war protests

Since the start of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, WOL has been one of the key organizers of protests in New York City.[14] WOL refers to its protests as "floods"; Haaretz has speculated that these are references to "Al-Aqsa Flood" (the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel).[19]

Support for Palestinian political violence

WOL has expressed support for Hamas and general Palestinian political violence against Israel.[20][9] It expressed support for the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel, which began the war, and announced a rally in Times Square for October 8 and at the Israeli consulate in New York for October 9 "to defend the heroic Palestinian resistance."[11] At the end of October, WOL's website "called the Hamas attack an inspiration to the world." It was later replaced by a denunciation of Israel's military operations in Gaza.[21]

On 10 June 2024, WOL protestors disrupted the "Nova Music Festival exhibition" at Wall Street, an exhibition commemorating the victims of Hamas' massacre at the Nova Festival on October 7. Protesters set off flares, waved flags of Hamas and Hezbollah, and displayed banners with messages such as "Long live October 7" and "The Zionists are not Jews and not humans." The protesters were recorded chanting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans.[6][22] One person at the protest was recorded making an antisemitic statement.[6] Congressman Ritchie Torres and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine condemned the crowd on social media, with Levine describing their actions as "vile" and "repulsive."[6][23]

WOL protestors have also chanted slogans praising Hamas and the Hamas spokeperson Abu Obaida,[24] and have displayed banners depicting the faces of Yahya Sinwar and Ahmad Saadat, the respective leaders of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). [25][26][27][28]

Conflict with the Democratic Party

WOL has expressed hostility to American president Joe Biden and New York City mayor Eric Adams on account of their pro-Israel stances,[29][30][31][32] and diverges from other pro-Palestinian groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Democratic Socialists of America in that they do not wish to work with the Democratic Party.[33]

On 28 March 2024, WOL and other groups organized protests outside a Democratic Party fundraiser for President Joe Biden at Radio City Hall. Biden was joined by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at the event. Later that evening, after the fundraiser ended, WOL continued protests outside the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel where Biden was staying overnight.[34][35]

On 22 June 2024, WOL held a rally to disrupt a joint rally held by legislators Jamaal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders, who are progressives critical of Israel. Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez had previously condemned the WOL protest at the Nova Festival massacre exhibition as antisemitic.[36][37]

On 15 August 2024, WOL disrupted an event for presidential candidate Kamala Harris, with protestors throwing smoke bombs.[38]

Campus occupation at Columbia University

On 17 April 2024, WOL protestors arrived outside of Columbia University to support the campus occupation by pro-Palestinian student demonstrators demanding the university cut all financial ties with Israel. WOL organized protests around the campus perimeter in support of the encampment, clashing with the NYPD.[39][40][41] Protestors were ultimately suppressed by the NYPD, which raided campus on 30 April.[42]

Response by the New York City Police Department

WOL has routinely clashed with the NYPD, and accuses them of intensifying repression on pro-Palestinian demonstrations.[43] The NYPD has deployed its Strategic Response Group and flown helicopters and drones at WOL protests since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on 7 October 2023[44] and banned their use of megaphones and air horns entirely.[45][2] Local publication Hell Gate has referred to this as an "escalating crackdown on pro-Palestine protests".[45] In one instance of violence, WOL protestors clashed with the NYPD after vandalizing the New York Times building, tearing down American flags, and attempting to force their way into Grand Central Terminal.[46][47]

After a WOL Nakba Day protest on 18 May 2024, videos circulated showing some demonstrators being pushed to the ground and struck repeatedly by officers. Mayor Adams defended criticism of the NYPD's response, praising it and calling WOL protestors an "unruly group of people". Kaz Daughtry, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations, argued that the demonstration was not peaceful and that protestors spit on and threw water at officers, lit "incendiary devices", and rode on the roof of an MTA bus.[48]

Criticism

The Times of Israel has pointed to various instances of criticism of Within Our Lifetime for its anti-Israel sentiments.[11] It has been described by New York Jewish Week as "hardline" for "echo[ing] Hamas talking points and routinely call[ing] for Israel's destruction."[49]

Accusations of antisemitism

At a WOL demonstration during the 2022 Al-Aqsa clashes in Jerusalem, organizer Saadah Masoud attacked Matt Greenman, a Jewish man wearing an Israeli flag as a cape. Masoud was one of three WOL activists arrested or imprisoned for attacking Jews as of November 2023.[50][51]

The Times of Israel reported in November 2023 that the group posted maps on its social media accounts that detailed the locations of organizations that supported Israel in New York City, including Israel's consulate, the Central Fund of Israel, the Jewish Communal Fund, Blackrock, the New York Times, and Penn Station, saying they had "blood on their hands." The post ended with the phrase "From the river to the sea". The posts were condemned by elected officials and Jewish leaders, who claimed that the maps were antisemitic. Several other CUNY groups also shared the maps before they were deleted by WOL.[52] WOL stated that "the locations were chosen for their complicity in the genocide of Palestinians and have nothing to do with Judaism or Jewish people in general."[43]

Following an assault on a Chabad Hasidic Jew at a WOL event, the group has been described by the Chabad community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn as an antisemitic group and cautioned community to avoid all public areas where WOL protests take place.[53]

WOL came under intense condemnation for antisemitism, its support and praise of massacres of Israeli civilians as well as the appearance and tolerance of Hezbollah and Hamas flags at WOL-organized rallies. White House spokesman Andrew Bates condemned antisemitism in WOL protests and New York Mayor Eric Adams accused the organization of “pure anti-Semitism" and the condemnation was joined by Ritchie Torres and Mark Levine who called the demonstration “repulsive and vile.”[7] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, politicians critical of Israel, also accused WOL of antisemitism.[54]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Palestinian Women Leading Protests: Lessons from Organizers in Exile". Institute for Palestine Studies. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  2. ^ a b GUERGUERIAN, AMBA (February 19, 2024). "Censored! Meta Deletes Popular Pro-Palestine Accounts in New York City". Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  3. ^ Guerguerian, Amba; Guerra, Elias; Constantine, Neil (2023-11-21). "Palestine Protests Footage from Over the Weekend". The Indypendent. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  4. ^ Ibrahim, Ismail (2023-11-02). "Prayer and Protest in Bay Ridge's Little Palestine". Curbed. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  5. ^ a b "Points of Unity - Within Our Lifetime". 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  6. ^ a b c d "NYC protesters wave terror group flags, call for intifada outside Nova massacre exhibit". Times of Israel. 2024-06-11. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  7. ^ a b Moshtaghian, Artemis; Sylla, Zenebou (2024-06-12). "NY governor calls vandalism at the homes of Jewish board members of the Brooklyn Museum 'an abhorrent act of antisemitism'". CNN. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  8. ^ "What is Within Our Lifetime, the anti-Israel group behind the protests at the Nova exhibit?". The Jerusalem Post. 20 June 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Otterman, Sharon (2024-10-05). "Pro-Palestinian Group Is Relentless in Its Criticism of Israel, and It Isn't Backing Down". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  10. ^ "Within Our Lifetime Rally Toolkit - Within Our Lifetime". 2021-03-17. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
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  12. ^ Tress, Luke (2023-05-07). "NYC's public law school releases video of 'antisemitic' commencement speech". Times of Israel. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  13. ^ "Palestine Unbound". Journal of Palestine Studies. 48 (4): 147. Summer 2019. JSTOR 26873249.
  14. ^ a b c Rosen, Ehud (2023). "The War in Gaza and the Domestic Threat in the West". Institute for National Security Studies. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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  16. ^ Shapiro, Dmitriy (21 April 2022). "Anti-Israel demonstrators call for resistance 'by any means necessary' outside Israeli consulate in New York". Jewish News Syndicate.
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  18. ^ Harris, Andy; Johnson, Miles (2023-10-20). "Passion Turns to Hostility in Clashing Protests at Washington Square Park - Pavement Pieces". Pavement Pieces. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  19. ^ Maltz, Judy (2023-10-29). "'By Any Means Necessary': Thousands in Brooklyn stand behind sign legitimizing Hamas terror". Haaretz. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
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  21. ^ Silverstein, Andrew (2023-11-10). "'Do you condemn Hamas?' — why a seemingly legitimate question has become controversial". The Forward. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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  23. ^ Fan, Christina (2024-06-11). "Pro-Palestinian protest gathers outside Nova exhibit in NYC, 3 people arrested - CBS New York". CBS News. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  24. ^ "NYC Land Day protesters to Hamas: 'Strike, strike Tel Aviv!'". The Jerusalem Post. 2024-04-01. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  25. ^ Moses, Dean (2024-09-02). "Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters march through Manhattan in wake of hostages' murder". www.amny.com. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  26. ^ Rozner, Lisa (2024-09-02). "Protesters rally for Gaza in Union Square & across Manhattan - CBS New York". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  27. ^ "'From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab': Hamas flags fly at NYC anti-Israel march". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 2024-09-03. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  28. ^ "Thousands March For Palestine Across Manhattan On Monday". New York City, NY Patch. 2024-09-03. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
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  30. ^ "Gaza protesters dim the glitz and glamour of Biden's Obama-Clinton fundraiser in NYC". USA Today. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  31. ^ "Pro-Palestine protesters tell New York City Mayor Eric Adams: 'Shame on you'". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  32. ^ "Our Communities Will Not Break Fast with You: The NYPD Attacks Muslims Protesting for Gaza Outside of Eric Adams' PR Iftar but Fails to Suppress People Power - Within Our Lifetime". 2024-03-21. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  33. ^ Barkan, Ross (February 7, 2024). "How the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Drove a Wedge Into the Democratic Party". The New York Times Magazine.
  34. ^ "Gaza protesters dim the glitz and glamour of Biden's Obama-Clinton fundraiser in NYC". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  35. ^ "'Down with the USA:' Anti-Israel activists protest Biden NYC fundraiser". The Jerusalem Post. 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  36. ^ "Pro-Israel money and flip-flops on Palestine: How Jamaal Bowman lost his primary election". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
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  38. ^ "Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Harris campaign event by throwing smoke bombs - report". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 2024-08-15. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  39. ^ "Columbia University Closes Campus as Hundreds of Anti-Israel Student Protesters Occupy Quad". National Review. 2024-04-17. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  40. ^ Banerjee, Isha. "Protests outside Columbia gates in solidarity with arrested students draw hundreds". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
  41. ^ Chakravarthy, Apurva. "NYPD arrests pro-Palestinian protester, detains at least two more at 'Flood Columbia for Gaza' demonstration on 116th Street and Broadway". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
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  43. ^ a b "The Crackdown on Palestine: Unveiling NYPD's Repression Tactics - Within Our Lifetime". 2024-01-25. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  44. ^ Nolan, Erin; Fawcett, Eliza; Schweber, Nate (October 28, 2023). "Protesters fill the streets in New York to support Palestinians in Gaza". The New York Times.
  45. ^ a b "The NYPD's Escalating Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Protests Falls 'Outside the Bounds of the Constitution' - Hell Gate". hellgatenyc.com. 2024-02-13. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  46. ^ "'You Zionist Pig': Pro-Palestinian Protesters Vandalize New York Times Building, Grand Central Station". National Review. 2023-11-11. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  47. ^ James Bickerton (2023-11-11). "Videos show NY chaos as anti-Israel protester tears down US flags". Newsweek. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  48. ^ "Adams defends NYPD's handling of Brooklyn pro-Palestinian protest". ny1.com. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  49. ^ Tress, Luke (2023-01-16). "Pro-Palestinian protesters target Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer center, accusing it of 'genocide'". New York Jewish Week. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  50. ^ Starr, Michael (2022-07-01). "Anti-Israel activist charged with hate crime for assault of NYC Jewish man". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  51. ^ Tress, Luke. "US pro-Palestinian group blasted for map of Jewish groups with 'blood on their hands'". New York Jewish Week. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
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  53. ^ "Beware: Anti Israel Protest at Brooklyn Museum on Monday". COLlive. 2024-06-10. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  54. ^ "White House slams 'heartbreaking' anti-Israel protest of Nova massacre exhibit in NYC". Retrieved 12 June 2024.
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