WITHIN OUR LIFETIME (FORMERLY NYC SJP)
Within Our Lifetime (WOL) is a radical anti-Israel organization dedicated to the complete destruction of Israel. The name refers to the group’s goal: the complete takeover of Israel by Palestinians “within the lifetime” of the group’s members.
Their aggressive and often violent street actions are billed as support for “Palestinian resistance and liberation by any means necessary.” The group stages protests in New York City in response to current events in Israel as well as to further their BDS agenda.
WOL identifies companies that do business with Israel, pro-Israel charities and pro-Israel philanthropists located in New York City. These businesses, groups and individuals then become the physical target of WOL’s unrelenting violent protests aimed to hound and shame them into divesting from Israel.
In May of 2021, WOL launched an aggressive campaign in NYC called “Globalize the Intifada” ("uprising"). Intifada is a word associated with decades of terror against Israel citizens by Palestinian terrorists. Since 1987, Intifadas in Israel have resulted in over 1,400 Israeli civilian deaths.
WOL drew support from their intersectional and international partners, staging weekly protests over four months that menaced the streets of New York. Many of these protests involved violent confrontations with pro-Israel supporters and police.
Their goal was to both garner international support for the destruction of Israel and bring their violent methods of “resistance” to “all colonized and oppressed people” who they claim have an “urgent need” to “take back their land, to realize self-determination, and to win their liberation by any means necessary.”
In September 2022, WOL included the anti-Semitic and pro-terrorism song “Odrob Odrob Tel Aviv [Strike A Blow At Tel Aviv]” as part of their “Rally Toolkit.” The Arabic-language song celebrates rocket attacks against Israel from Gaza.
Part of the lyrics are: “Oh you settler, with your sidelocks, in your shelter you cower with fear.” Other lyrics say: “Oh Fajr missile, explode in the Knesset [Israeli parliament] and the army base. Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar [God is the greatest, God is the greatest] terrorize Tel Aviv."
On May 8, 2021, Kiswani played [00:12:08] the song at a WOL rally in Brooklyn and sang along to it. Kiswani told [00:16:09] protesters:
“You know the song is about resistance…Join us. Join our resistance. Go out and protest. Go out and humiliate Israel for their crimes. This is what the resistance in Palestine is asking of us.”
“Odrob Odrob Tel Aviv” was released in 2012 during Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD) against Hamas. It was originally accompanied by images of injured Israelis [00:00:15], rockets ready to be launched [00:00:42] and still images showing Qassam rockets [00:02:01].
Nerdeen Kiswani, founder and leader of WOL, has called for the death of Zionists and for Israel’s destruction and spread incitement to violence.
Leading WOL rallies, Kiswani advocates, “Resistance, by any means necessary,” and says, “We need allies who are gonna help us achieve a victory, not allies who are going to tell us to be non-violent.”
Kiswani has been front and center at WOL's protests, her voice ringing loud and clear leading chants such as, “5-6-7-8 smash the settler state," “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution" and “Intifada, Intifada! Long Live the Intifada!"
Kiswani and WOL’s latest campaign is called “Globalize the Intifada."
On July 31, 2021, after fireworks were lit at a WOL rally, Kiswani told the crowd: “I hope that a pop-pop is the last noise that some Zionists hear in their lifetime!"
On May 24, 2021, speaking about Israel, Kiswani declared in a YouTube webinar, “We have to defeat this illegitimate zionist settler state that has no right to exist."
On March 3, 2017, Kiswani posted to Instagram, “Israel must be annihilated."
Kiswani’s calls for violence directly incite violent acts in NYC against Jews and pro-Israel supporters. Her constant refrain of “resistance by any means necessary” is taken to heart by her followers, leading to violent assaults occurring during WOL rallies by WOL activists.
For more, read her full profile here.
Saadah Masoud, one of WOL’s leading activists, has repeatedly assaulted Jews and pro-Israel individuals, incited others to violence and fought with the police. He has been arrested numerous times and charged in connection with his activism.
Masoud also threatens pro-Israel groups online, once promising to “keep violating you dirty zionist” and saying, “I would love to make you an example.”
On March 3, 2023, Masoud was sentenced to 18 months in prison for "his participation in a conspiracy to commit hate crimes in connection with ... repeated physical attacks of Jewish victims in New York City between 2021 and 2022.”
These attacks included:
April 20, 2022 - Assault of Matt Greenman
Masoud assaulted Greenman, a Jewish man walking with a crutch, wearing an Israeli flag and on his way to a pro-Israel rally in midtown Manhattan. Masoud followed Greenman. He first threatened him verbally, then chased him and threw him to the ground after which he proceeded to punch and kick him in the face.
Masoud then stole Greenman's flag, which later ended up with fellow violent WOL activist Suleiman Othman, who tied it around his shoe to trample on it. Othman later held the flag after it was lit on fire at a counter-protest. Masoud called the flag “our trophy for the day.”
The day after the WOL march, Masoud reportedly sent threatening messages to the Jewish Lives Matter Instagram page, saying, “I feel bad for you zionist people when judgement day comes and we slaughter all of them like sheep.”
June 2, 2021 - Assault of Jewish man
Masoud and a co-conspirator assaulted a man wearing traditional Jewish clothing outside of the man’s house in Brooklyn.
May 20, 2021 - Assault in Manhattan
Masoud assaulted a man wearing a Star of David necklace.
May 18, 2021 - Attack on Israel Supporters
Masoud led a mob of anti-Israel activists in violently attacking two men, one of whom held an Israeli flag. At the same protest, Masoud and Kiswani stood on one of the lion statues outside of the New York Public Library and set off smoke canisters.
More Violence by WOL Activists
Attack on Joseph Borgen
On May 20, 2021, a gang of WOL activists attacked Joseph Borgen, a young man on his way to a pro-Israel rally in midtown Manhattan. Borgen was clearly identifiable as Jewish from the yarmulke on his head.
Six of Borgen’s attackers have been identified to date: Waseem Awawdeh, Mohammed Othman and his brother Mohammed (Said) Othman, Mahmoud R. Musa, Faisal Elezzi and K.A. (a minor).
Describing the attack, Borgen said, “They hit me with fists, kicked me, hit me with crutches, hit me with signs ... They were saying, ‘You dirty Jew, f--- Israel, go back to your country … I was getting Maced and pepper-sprayed. My face was on fire. … I have bruises all over my body. I have a black eye. My face is banged up. I’m just sore all over my body. They were kicking me in my ribs, my stomach.”On May 25, 2021, Awawdeh was arrested and charged with “hate crime assault 2, gang assault 2, menacing, and criminal possession of a weapon” for his attack on Borgen. Awawdeh was the attacker who used a crutch to hit Borgen while verbally abusing him with anti-Semitic slurs. Almost two years later, Awawdeh was offered a plea deal and on April 25, 2023, it was decided he would serve 18 months in jail.
Faisal Elezzi was convicted and sentenced to three years probation and anti-bias programming
Shooting Fireworks at Passersby
On May 20, 2021, WOL activist Mohammed Othman physically assaulted Jews multiple times and hurled a large firework from the back of a moving pickup truck that burned a 55-year-old woman (who needed to be taken to the hospital). Othman also attempted to breach a police barrier and fled from the police who proceeded to arrest violent activists.
Othman was arrested on July 7, 2021, and charged with three separate anti-Semitic hate crime assaults.
Mob Attack
On May 20, 2021, anti-Israel protester Ahmad Othman sucker-punched an Israel supporter, knocking him to the ground. Afterward, the crowd of anti-Israel activists chanted: “Nazis! Nazis!” at the Israel supporters and threw projectiles at them.
Hate Crime Assaults
On January 11, 2022, Suleiman Othman, a leading WOL activist, was arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD) Hate Crimes Task Force on charges of assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime after he allegedly punched a Jewish man in the face multiple times, in Brooklyn on December 26, 2021.
The Jewish man, a college student named Blake Zavadsky, was wearing an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sweatshirt and suffered a laceration, bruising and swelling from the attack. Suleiman reported called Zavadsky and his friend Ilan Kaganovich “dirty Jews.”
On January 18, 2023, Othman reportedly rejected a plea deal for only six months in jail for the crime. He later accepted a new deal and pleaded guilty to attempted third-degree assault as a hate crime on May 29, 2023. Under the terms of the new deal, Othman will receive a 60-day jail term and three years probation at his scheduled sentencing on September 20, 2023.
Amin Husain has organized multiple violent New York City disruptions, promoted hatred of America and the police and incited hatred against pro-Israel supporters with Within Our Lifetime (WOL), an anti-Israel activist group in New York.
Dan Cione [Daniel Paul Cione] joined a mob that attacked Jewish diners as well as a mob that fled from the police during a violent anti-Israel counterprotest in 2021. Cione has promoted intifada, glorified terrorists, disrupted Holocaust-related events and spread hatred of America and Israel.
Husam Kaid has spread anti-Semitism, promoted incitement and celebrated intifada violence as a leading activist for Within Our Lifetime (WOL), an anti-Israel group in New York City, since 2019.
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Abdullah Akl has expressed support for terrorists and has called for intifada. He has expressed hatred of Israel and Zionism and called for Israel’s destruction.
Anas Shuaib has spread anti-Semitism, promoted incitement, shared neo-Nazi propaganda and expressed support for Hamas and Hezbollah. He also spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, accused Jews of mass murder, claimed that American Jews have dual loyalties and spread hatred of Israeli Jews.
Waseem Awawdeh pled guilty in April 2023 to attempted assault as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon for an anti-Semitic attack he carried out on May 20, 2021.
WOL works closely with several partner organizations to accomplish its goal “to resist the zionist occupation by any means necessary.” This translates into a network of radical antisemites creating violence and anarchy in NYC, often targeting Jews.
Al-Awda NY and Lamis Deek:
The BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) movement seeks to end the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. Deek’s organization, Al-Awda, specifically agitates for the “right of return” of Palestinian to Israel. The “right of return” is simply another means to eliminate Israel.
Deek is also affiliated with the radical anti-Israel groups Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). In addition, she served as a board member for the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Other Collaborating Organizations:
