Jewish groups call for action against radical anti-Israel organization: 'openly embraces Hamas'
Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a radical anti-Israel group based in New York City, is among numerous organizations making headlines for open support of terrorist groups in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks.
WOL’s online messaging outlines the radical beliefs uniting its members since the group’s founding in 2015. "We are anti-zionists (sic)," WOL states, elaborating that the "liberation of Palestine requires the abolition of zionism (sic)." WOL also supports resistance to "the violence of the U.S. empire at home and abroad," advocates for "Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland in all of historic Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea," and believes Palestinians have the right to "resist the zionist (sic) occupation by any means necessary."
While WOL stridently believes that it is anti-Zionist and not antisemitic, experts say that the group’s actions have harmed and endangered Jews.
"WOL Palestine has, for years, engaged in what amounts to a conspiracy to deprive Jewish people of their civil rights through acts of violence and intimidation," with numerous WOL members and supporters being "convicted of hate crime attacks against Jewish New Yorkers," Brooke Goldstein, a human rights attorney and founder and executive director of The Lawfare Project, told Fox News Digital.
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"Long Live Oct 7th" banner (FNTV)
Despite "a significant escalation of aggression towards Jews by WOL Palestine and its adherents" in the aftermath of Oct. 7, Goldstein lamented that "we see no action by law enforcement or prosecutors. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg treats WOL Palestine’s criminal acts as misdemeanor property crimes not worthy of pursuing, instead of the terroristic activity it is."
In an April interview with Fox News Digital, former White House Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt discussed misinformation and hate emanating from two protests promoted by WOL at synagogues in Teaneck, New Jersey.
On Mar. 10, WOL urged followers to assemble in protest of an alleged auction of "occupied Palestinian land" at Teaneck’s Keter Torah Congregation. "They lied," Greenblatt said, "and they’re claiming that ‘us rich Jews’ are buying stolen Palestinian land." As media outlets like the Jerusalem Post reported, the synagogue was hosting an information session about purchasing Israeli real estate. Several pro-Palestinian groups attended the protest, during which two protesters were arrested for spray-painting passing cars.
On April 1, WOL called for followers to join their protest against Israeli organization ZAKA at Teaneck’s Bnai Yeshurun synagogue. Greenblatt explained that Israeli emergency response organization ZAKA provides a "kindness that you can’t even repay" by trying "to bury the little pieces of the Jewish bodies that were the targets of this Hamas terrorism." WOL alleged that ZAKA has put forward "false claims and fabricated evidence" that have "fueled the Gaza genocide."
While protesting against ZAKA, ADL’s Center on Extremism team told Fox News Digital that WOL founder Nerdeen Kiswani wore a pin bearing the face of Abu Obaida, Hamas’ spokesman.
Oren Segal, Vice President of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, told Fox News Digital that WOL has demonstrated "very explicit support for violence against Israeli civilians in support of terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Houthis at some of the nearly 100 anti-Israel rallies they have sponsored around New York City since Oct. 7." Hamas, Hezbollah and PFLP are listed by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations.
Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder and leader of Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine (WOL), speaks at a demonstration near Columbia University on February 2, 2024, in New York City. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images) (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The group is "really in your face, really blatant," Segal said. He added that "groups that tend to legitimize terror organizations, glorify violence, and otherwise create an atmosphere where antisemitism is normalized . . . those are the characteristics of a movement that leads to violence."
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Following synagogue protests, WOL was among the outside agitators participating in and encouraging university encampment protests throughout New York City. In a treatise about their role in the encampments, WOL urged escalation. "We have a choice in what we prioritize and a responsibility to adapt to meet the moment," WOL told followers. "We can choose to prioritize de-escalation trainings, or we can choose to prioritize escalation trainings. We can choose to learn how to build effective barricades, how to link arms most effectively to resist police attacks, or what type of expanding foam works best on the kind of doorknobs present in our universities. This is not rhetoric — this is an urgent need."
The escalation WOL called for was on display at the Brooklyn Museum on May 31. After the museum refused to comply with WOL’s demands that it disclose and divest from any financial ties to Israel, protesters swarmed outside the museum. Some protesters entered the lobby. NBC News reported that protesters "physically and verbally assaulted and harassed" museum staff and damaged art installations. Ultimately, Kiswani and 33 other protesters were arrested by the NYPD.
Taylor Maatman, the Brooklyn Museum’s Director of Public Relations and Communications, did not answer questions about the harm caused during protests but told Fox News Digital that the museum was "dismayed by any violence that occurred."
The radical anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime (WOL) organizes a rally outside the AirTrain at Jamaica station, during the National Day of Action in Queens, New York on Saturday, January 27, 2024. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
On June 7, WOL Tweeted a warning to the Brooklyn Museum: "If you take peace from the people, we take peace from you." The Tweet was marked with the inverted red triangle Hamas uses to identify military targets.
On June 12, four leaders of the Brooklyn Museum awoke to red paint sprayed across their homes, including large inverted red triangles. Vandals left a sign at the home of the museum’s Jewish director, calling her a "White Supremacist Zionist." In response to inquiries about the vandalism, Maatman stated that "for two centuries, the Brooklyn Museum has worked to foster mutual understanding through art and culture," and "violence and vandalism have no place in that discourse."
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said of the vandalism that it was "not peaceful protest or free speech," adding that the crime was "overt, unacceptable antisemitism."
WOL has not taken explicit responsibility for the vandalism. Kiswani has Tweeted about it, explaining that "execs were targeted for unleashing police violence on Palestine protests" and calling the vandalism "pretty peaceful, compared to what the Brooklyn museum did to peaceful protesters."
WOL has not responded to questions from Fox News Digital about responsibility for the aforementioned incident, its support for terror groups, or the misinformation it espouses. It also did not answer questions about the antisemitism inherent in many of its protests, including a June 5 protest against Hillel, an institution that provides Jewish students with religious resources on campus. On X, WOL said that Hillel "stands with genocide."
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Escalation in WOL’s protests continued on June 10, when the organization hosted a "Day of Rage" at a New York City exhibit about the Nova Music Festival, where 370 innocents were killed and 44 were taken hostage on Oct. 7. WOL protesters explained on X that they had "flooded the streets, took over the trains, and shut down [the] Zionist propaganda exhibit."
Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, told Fox News Digital that the "horrific" Nova protest occurred within walking distance of his office. "We have to tell our employees when stuff like that is happening that they can’t come in, that we advise them not to come." Hauer elaborated, "that protest was dangerous. It was dangerous for Jews to be there."
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En route to the exhibit, protesters in the 14th Street-Union Square subway station issued a call-and-response chant, telling riders, "Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist . . . this is your chance to get out." At the event itself, protesters shouted "long live the intifada," and "Israel go to hell." One protester waved a Hezbollah flag while another carried a banner reading "Long Live Oct. 7." WOL Tweeted video from the Nova protest showing a sign stating that "Zionists are not Jews & not humans."
Segal said that the event and signage were troubling. "When you start dehumanizing people, whether you’re calling them Zionists or whether you’re more explicitly calling them Jews, that’s not just antisemitic, that’s dangerous." Citing ADL studies, Segal said that "most American Jews identify with the State of Israel and believe it has the right to exist. When you start talking about Zionists as your enemies, that includes a whole bunch of Jews."
Anti-Israel protest (FNTV)
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WOL’s Nova protest garnered condemnation from White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. The Times of Israel reported that Bates called protesters’ conduct "outrageous and heartbreaking," adding that "profane banners of terrorist organizations should not be flown anywhere, especially not on American streets."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tweeted on June 11 that the "callousness, dehumanization, and targeting of Jews on display at last night’s protest outside the Nova Festival exhibit was atrocious antisemitism," and "has no place in our city nor any broader movement."
WOL subsequently issued a statement defending their protest of the Nova exhibit. It contains the claim, debunked in the media, that Israel itself was "burning down cars with the missile strikes" at the Nova festival. Calling the music festival a "rave next to a concentration camp," WOL implied that Israel keeps Palestinians in Gaza as a form of ethnic cleansing. In closing, WOL stated that it will "not condemn October 7th" or the "people’s resistance forces," and urged supporters to "escalate – both in words and in action."
WOL protests continue apace. A June 29 protest of a Biden fundraiser, in which WOL urged followers to "confront genocide Joe," resulted in 38 arrests. The New York Post reported that a July 4 WOL protest throughout New York City led the NYPD to handcuff 37 individuals. In Washington Square Park, where WOL members including Kiswani led protesters in chants, two protesters burned the American flag.
Fox News Digital reached out to Bates and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for comment about efforts to protect the institutions and people endangered by WOL protests. Fox News Digital received no response.
Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC) Foundation, which fundraises for WOL according to the Jerusalem Post, did not respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital about whether it will continue funding WOL, given its support of terrorism and harmful protests.
columbia university demonstrators protest together (Alex Kent)
Fox News Digital also reached out to Donorbox, which WOL claims to use to raise funds. A Donorbox employee responded that "Within Our Lifetime does not have an active fundraising account with Donorbox."
WOL also purports to use GPay to fundraise. A Google spokesperson told Fox News Digital that "merchants using the Google Pay API must follow the Google Pay API Terms of Services, including the acceptable use policy. When we discover violations, we take action against them, which may include removing Google Pay as a payment option."
Neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice answered specific questions about efforts to monitor or sanction WOL’s activities. In response to questions about the limits of peaceful protest and endangerment of targeted individuals, the NYPD told Fox News Digital that it will "never tolerate violence or property damage" and is "ready and available to respond to protests and will ensure everyone is able to peacefully exercise their first amendment rights."
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Leaders protecting Jewish Americans against an onslaught of antisemitism that has followed in the wake of Oct. 7 expressed ongoing concern about WOL. According to Hauer, "the movement which we are seeing is not attacking just Jews in Jewish communities. They have a stated intent to impact the country, to change the country, even sometimes expressed as to destroy the country."
As Goldstein added, "there is no doubt that WOL Palestine promotes — and commits acts of — violence and extremism, and openly embraces Hamas, a government-designated foreign terrorist organization. But without a thorough investigation by federal authorities into the connections between WOL, Hamas, and other terror groups, we cannot know for certainty whether WOL is a domestic terrorist organization or the cell of a foreign one," Goldstein added "Sanctioning WOL as a terrorist organization would be an important action for the government to take, but even more crucial is prosecuting the group for its conspiracy to commit antisemitic hate crimes and to deprive Jewish citizens of their civil rights."
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