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Within Our Lifetime
Within Our Lifetime (WOL) is a pro-terror activist group dedicated to Israel’s destruction. Acts of violence and physical confrontations with police have occurred at multiple WOL protests throughout New York City, where the group is based.
On social media and at protests, WOL promotes Palestinian resistance “by any means necessary,” calls to “Globalize the Intifada,” spreads incitement and shows support for terrorists. WOL’s name comes from its members' desire to see Israel’s destruction within their lifetime.
WOL uses harassment campaigns to target pro-Israel foundations, pro-Israel philanthropists and companies that do business with Israel. WOL’s protests create a highly unsafe environment, sometimes resulting in physical and verbal assaults on Jews and Israel supporters. Other activists who have led chants at WOL rallies have committed acts of violence at other anti-Israel events.
WOL’s website offers a rally toolkit to “build the movement for Palestine from wherever you are.” The group also promotes [00:38:53] the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and offers legal support for its activists.
In 2021, WOL launched a campaign to prevent the City University of New York’s (CUNY) student senate from adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, dubbed #IHRAoutofCUNY.
On April 11, 2021, CUNY’s student senate, dominated by anti-Israel activists, voted against adopting the IHRA definition, enabling contemporary anti-Semitism to flourish on the college campus under the new guise of “anti-Zionism.”
Founded: 2015
Officers/Board Members: Nerdeen Kiswani and Dan Cione
Infamous Activists: Saadah Masoud, Amin Husain, Abdallah Akl, Anas Shuaib, Husam Kaid
Affiliated Organizations: Al-Awda NY, Samidoun, Existence Is Resistance, Decolonize This Place, PYM, AMP, CUNY School of Law JVP, CUNY for Palestine, John Jay SJP, Brooklyn College SJP, SJP City College of New York, JVP New York City, Jewish Law Students Association CUNY Law, Palestine Solidarity Alliance of Hunter College, PSC CUNY.
Intersectional Allies: ComBo Comité Boricua En La Diáspora, Rank and File Action CUNY, #MoMA Divest, Insurgent Poets Society, Africa4Palestine, Defund Racism.
WOL was co-founded by Nerdeen Kiswani and Dan Cione in 2015. The group originally started as the New York City chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). In February 2018, Kiswani, then chair of NYC SJP, rebranded and expanded the group beyond its student-based constituency, re-launching it as WOL.
The group’s official page states: “Within Our Lifetime is not only a name, but a promise, a motivational cry, a rally, and a call to action.”
In May 2018, following the rebranding, WOL held its “1st Annual Palestine Lives Conference,” featuring a host of anti-Israel agitators as “special guest speakers.” The official conference poster featured a photo of armed men in keffiyehs, with the caption: “Resisting Settler Colonialism Since 1948.”
The group held its 2nd conference in 2019, followed by a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, and resumed the annual event in 2022.
WOL organizes annual “Nakba Day” rallies in May and stages [00:11:22] serial anti-Israel protests from May through September, coinciding with summer recess in most of the city’s schools and colleges.
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.
WOL expands SJP’s reach by providing a platform and tools for post-graduate anti-Israel activists to other “theaters of operation” outside of campuses. WOL activists have organized actions on city streets and highways, as well as in parks, train stations and subway cars.
WOL regularly glorifies [00:34:06] convicted terrorists.
WOL’s ideological platform is based on four main tenets, or “Points of Unity,” and is outlined below.
1. Right of Return
“We uphold the right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland in all of historic Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
2. Anti-Zionism
“We are anti-zionists. Zionism is a settler-colonial white supremacist ideology built on the genocide and dispossession of the Palestinian people. We therefore reject all collaboration and dialogue with zionist organizations through a strict policy of anti-normalization. The liberation of Palestine requires the abolition of zionism.”
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.
Proponents of the “anti-normalization” policy seek to police all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians and shut down all conversations and interactions perceived as being ideologically unaligned with their own agenda. They feel “liberal Zionist” dialogue with Palestinians “normalizes” entrenched power dynamics. This policy was originally dictated by the BDS National Committee (BNC), which prioritized the “Monitoring & Rapid Response” against interactions that recognize or cooperate with “Israel’s regime.”
3. Right to Resist
“We defend the right of Palestinians as colonized people to resist the zionist occupation by any means necessary… we uphold the right of all oppressed nationality people in the United States and around the world to engage in all forms of struggle in pursuit of freedom.”
Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence.
4. Internationalism
“We have a responsibility as those living within the United States to resist the violence of the U.S. empire at home and abroad.”
Nerdeen Kiswani
Nerdeen Kiswani has called for the death of Zionists and for Israel’s destruction. She has also spread incitement to violence, glorified intifada, honored leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group and expressed support for other terrorists.
Kiswani has spread hatred of America, incited hatred against pro-Israel donors, promoted hatred of Israel and demonized Zionism. She has disrupted multiple New York City Council meetings and in May 2021, Kiswani said she was indefinitely banned from entering Israel.
Dan Cione
Dan Cione has promoted incitement, expressed support for terrorists, protested Holocaust memorial events and demonized Israel. In May 2021, Cione joined a mob that attacked Jewish diners, as well as another mob the same day that attempted to breach a police-erected barrier. He then fled the police after the incident.
WOL claims to be “entirely funded by grassroots donations” since its founding in 2015. However, the group is not found to be registered in any U.S. state as a nonprofit organization under its official name. Nor is there any listing for WOL under its name on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website for tax-exempt organizations.
The group also makes no information available to the public on its website or official social media pages regarding its legal and/or tax status.
Organizing Anti-Israel Rallies
WOL organizes large-scale anti-Israel rallies and protests in New York City on a regular basis, often in partnership with other anti-Israel groups and intersectional allies, such as Decolonize This Place (DTP), which demands the “abolition of prisons and police, bosses and borders.”
WOL activists frequently stage the burning [00:00:20] of Israeli flags as the centerpiece [00:00:36] of their rallies.
WOL leaders have claimed [00:20:28] 50,000 participants at some of their best-attended events. On numerous occasions, WOL protests have turned violent and ended in the arrests of its participants. Below is a sample of the violence that occurred at WOL rallies.
On April 20, 2022, WOL leader Saadah Masoud violently assaulted Matt Greenman, an Israel supporter, during a WOL rally in midtown Manhattan. Masoud reportedly verbally threatened Greenman, followed him, chased him down, threw him to the ground, and punched and kicked him in the face. After the assault, Masoud stole Greenman’s Israeli flag and gave it to another activist who later trampled and burned it.
Following the incident, Greenman reportedly went to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with a concussion, in addition to other injuries. Greenman said he filed a police report, and an investigation was opened following the incident.
In November 2022, Masoud pled guilty to a federal hate crimes conspiracy charge for attacking Greenman. The same indictment accused Masoud of two additional anti-Semitic assaults that had taken place in 2021. In a press release issued by the U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Saadah Masoud deliberately targeted three victims because of their religion and nation of origin.”
In March 2023, Masoud received an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit violent hate crimes against Jews in April 2022, June 2021, and May 2021. Two of those crimes were connected to WOL rallies.
During another WOL rally on May 18, 2021, held in front of the Israeli consulate in Manhattan, several WOL activists later led a violent group assault [00:00:03] on two pro-Israel men and punched one of them in the face. At the same protest, WOL leader Nerdeen Kiswani and at least two of the attackers, including Masoud, stood on one of the lion statues outside of the New York Public Library and set off smoke canisters.
One day after the incident, one of the attackers, Salem Seleiman, posted an Instagram video showing the assault and commented: “Every Punch 🥊 Felt Better Than The Last 🤷♂️ #FreePalestine #FreeGaza.”
Incitement
During a July 31, 2021, WOL rally in Brooklyn, after fireworks were lit, Kiswani told [01:02:43] the crowd: “I hope that a pop-pop is the last noise that some Zionists hear in their lifetime!”
At the same WOL rally, Kiswani led [00:00:26] Arabic chants, which translated to: “The Gate of Al-Aqsa is made of iron, it can be opened only by martyrs” and [00:00:54] “Either we liberate [the Al-Aqsa Mosque] or we die!”
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
Later at the same rally, Kiswani translated [00:55:55] the chants into English, saying that “the Palestinian community and the people who stand with and support Palestine are 100% behind our martyrs. We are 100% behind our resistance. … We know that our liberation will only come through resistance, by any means necessary.”
Harassment Campaigns
WOL’s rallies and protests systematically target companies that do business with Israel, as well as pro-Israel foundations and pro-Israel philanthropists, with harassment campaigns. WOL’s disruptive “actions” and protests create a highly unsafe environment for Jews.
On June 9, 2021, WOL targeted the offices of Zim Corporation during a BDS rally.
On June 11, 2021, Kiswani proclaimed [00:00:49]: “We marched today, we took over the streets and we visited multiple Zionist settler foundations. Multiple. We let them know we know where they’re at. We know where they work. We’re gonna find out more about where they’re at too. And we’re gonna go after them.”
In 2021, WOL was part of the Strike MoMA campaign launched by a coalition of anti-American groups called the “International Imagination of Anti-National Anti-Imperialist Feelings (IIAAF).” The campaign targeted individual members of the board of trustees of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for various reasons, including their support for Israel.
On July 2, 2021, WOL targeted the offices of Friends of Ir David during its “Protest and March to Defend Silwan.”
Jewish ownership claims to lands in Silwan, a Jerusalem neighborhood also known as Shiloach, have been frequently met with Palestinian violence against Israelis who sought to reclaim their property rights.
On March 30, 2022, WOL targeted the offices of Friends of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] during its “Land Day” protest.
At the event, Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) activist Naye Idriss argued that people should celebrate [00:31:32]: “anti-zionist resistance, whether through the form of mass strikes, armed struggle, boycott and anti-normalization practices and cultural resistance.”
Idriss concluded [00:33:18] her speech by leading the chant: “ من المية للمية فلسطين عربية [From Water to Water! Palestine is Arab],” the Arabic version of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free!”
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
Calling for Israel’s Destruction
Kiswani publicly denies [00:08:46] Israel’s right to exist and has described [00:09:05] the abolition of Israel as “the key to peace.” Calling for Israel’s destruction [00:39:14] is a regular feature [00:34:43] at WOL rallies [00:43:38] and online events. One of Kiswani’s since-deleted Instagram posts explicitly said: “Israel must be annihilated.”
Kiswani has stated [01:05:01]: “We will settle for nothing less than every single inch of a liberated Palestine… Not just in Gaza or the West Bank or Al Quds [Jerusalem] but in ‘48 [Israel], every inch of Palestine. This is why we chant, ‘we don’t want two states, we want ‘48, we want all of it’ because all of it belongs to us. All of the land.”
The two-state solution envisions a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by dividing the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea into an Israeli Jewish state and a Palestinian Arab state.
“48” refers to 1948, the year the State of Israel was established.
Glorifying Terrorists
WOL glorifies high-profile terrorists, such as Leila Khaled and Rasmea Odeh, and actively promotes [00:34:06] their radical views.
Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of the PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities, and compared Zionists to Nazis.
Odeh was a key military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a PFLP supermarket bombing that killed two college students. She also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Odeh later moved to the United States but was deported to Jordan in 2017 for immigration fraud.
WOL shows support for other Palestinian terrorists, referring to them as “political prisoners.”
The group aggressively campaigns for their release from Israeli prisons and actively collaborates with other anti-Israel groups that share this agenda, such as Samidoun.
Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun) is an anti-Israel NGO whose activism spreads awareness of terrorists. At least three senior Samidoun activists are members [pp. 22-28] of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group. In February 2021, Israel’s Ministry of Justice declared Samidoun to be a “terror organization,” accusing [p. 2] the NGO of operating “as an arm” of the PFLP.
In October 2023, Germany announced it would disband Samidoun's German wing, saying: “the international network works under the guise of a solidarity group for prisoners to spread anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda.”
On January 29, 2023, WOL organized a protest in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, called “NYC Stands With Jenin.” The event poster read: “JOIN US AS WE HONOR THE MARTYRS OF JENIN AND ALL OF PALESTINE.”
On January 26, 2023, 9 Palestinians were killed in a shootout after IDF soldiers entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest a cell of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists, who were reportedly planning a terror attack.
Promoting Intifada
In 2021, WOL launched its “Globalize the Intifada” campaign, which is described as “a new action framework that adopts the Palestinian uprising (‘Intifada’) against the Israeli occupation as a model of resistance for oppressed people worldwide.”
Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.
The second intifada (2000-2005) was characterized by more than 120 suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians on buses and in cafes.
WOL’s rally “checklist” features such chants as: “From New York to Gaza Globalize the intifada!,” “There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!” and “Resistance is justified, When people are colonized!”
Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence.
WOL has collaborated with Samidoun on multiple protests, gatherings, campaigns, demonstrations, and rallies in the New York metropolitan area since at least 2016, when WOL was known as NYC SJP.
In October 2024, the US and Canadian governments declared that the Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun) was a “sham charity” that served as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group. In February 2021, Israel’s Ministry of Justice declared Samidoun to be a “terror organization,” accusing [p. 2] the NGO of operating “as an arm” of the PFLP.
In October 2023, Germany said it would disband Samidoun's German wing, with Reuters reporting that Germany's Interior Minister "said the international network works under the guise of a solidarity group for prisoners to spread anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda.”
In 2020, Barakat urged “Solidarity with Nerdeen Kiswani against Zionist attacks!” and referred to her as the “Young Leila Khaled.” On another occasion, during a Samidoun webinar in which both Kiswani and Barakat spoke, Barakat said [00:44:53] Kiswani was leading the youth in New York “by example.”
Joe Catron, Samidoun’s American coordinator, has also expressed support for WOL and for Kiswani’s anti-Israel activism. Kiswani and Catron spoke [00:04:44] at the same [00:02:27] anti-Israel rallies in 2022, 2021, 2018 and 2017.
Saadah Masoud
Saadah Masoud received an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit violent hate crimes against Jews in April 2022, June 2021 and May 2021.
At WOL rallies and other events in New York City, Masoud has repeatedly assaulted Israel supporters, had multiple violent altercations with police and been arrested for assault and robbery.
Masoud has also incited violence against supporters of Israel, promoted Holocaust revisionism and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on social media.
Amin Husain
Amin Husein has organized multiple violent disruptions, incited hatred against pro-Israel supporters and promoted hatred of America and the police. He has claimed to have participated in the first intifada and personally visited PIJ terrorist leader Khader Adnan during the deadly Knife Intifada in 2015.
The first intifada (1987-1991) saw Palestinian gunmen hijack multiple buses, as well as perpetrate shooting, stabbing and bombing attacks against Israelis. The “Knife Intifada” in late 2015 was characterized by Palestinian youth stabbing Israeli civilians.
Khader Adnan was a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization. A 2007 YouTube video showed Adnan praising and encouraging suicide bombings: "Who among you will carry the next explosive belt? Who among you will fire the next bullets? Who among you will have his body parts blown all over?” In May 2023, Adnan died in prison after refusing medical treatment during a hunger strike.
In his Instagram account “@On_This_Land,” Husain has expressed support for the PFLP terror group and glorified its leaders, promoted other terrorists and spread hatred of Israel.
Anas Shuaib
Anas Shuaib has spread anti-Semitism, promoted incitement, shared neo-Nazi propaganda and expressed support for terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah. He has also propagated anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, accused Jews of mass murder and claimed that American Jews have dual loyalties.
Shuaib has spread hatred of Israeli Jews, accused Israel of controlling America, expressed support for terrorists, promoted anti-Zionist conspiracy theories and expressed hatred of Israel.
Husam Kaid
Husam Kaid has spread anti-Semitism, promoted incitement, celebrated intifada violence and expressed support for terrorism. He has also spread hatred of Israel, trivialized the Holocaust, defended anti-Semitism and demonized Israel.
Kaid has promoted hatred of the police and is a supporter of the BDS movement.
Abdullah Akl
Abdullah Akl has spread hatred of America, glorified intifada violence, called for Israel’s destruction and expressed support for terrorists. He has also spread hatred of Israel and Zionism and is a supporter of the BDS movement.
“I hope that a pop-pop is the last noise that some Zionists hear in their lifetime!”
- Nerdeen Kiswani, YouTube, Aug 4 2021
“We burning that s**t [Israeli flag] in the heart of the belly of the beast, in the heart of New York City, in front of Rockefeller, in front of the most notorious Zionists in this country that are right here in our city.”
- Nerdeen Kiswani, YouTube, Jun 11 2021
“باب الاقصى من حديد ما بيفتحها الا الشهيد…يا نحررها با بنموت [The Gate of Al-Aqsa is made of iron, it can be opened only by martyrs…Either we liberate [the Al-Aqsa Mosque] or we die!]”
- Nerdeen Kiswani, YouTube, Jul 31 2021
“We marched today, we took over the streets and we visited multiple Zionist settler foundations. Multiple. We let them know we know where they’re at. We know where they work. We’re gonna find out more about where they’re at too. And we’re gonna go after them.”
- Nerdeen Kiswani, YouTube, Jun 11 2021
“The Palestinian community and the people who stand with and support Palestine are 100% behind our martyrs. We are 100% behind our resistance…We know that our liberation will only come through resistance, by any means necessary.”
- Nerdeen Kiswani, YouTube, Jul 31 2021
“Five, Six, Seven, Eight! Smash the settler Zionist state!”
- Abdullah Akl, YouTube, Sep 3 2021
“There is only one solution! Intifada, Revolution! Intifada, Intifada! Globalize the Intifada!”
- Abdullah Akl, YouTube, Oct 3 2021
“We are going to have an intifada on every college campus! We are going to shut down all the Zionist events!”
- Husam Kaid, YouTube, Nov 15 2019
