Within Our Lifetime (WOL)

WOL has been accused of anti-Semitism for openly advocating violence against Israel and Jews at its rallies. Its name originates from pro-Palestinian protesters’ goal of creating a Palestinian state within their lifetimes. ²

History

Within Our Lifetime was founded in 2015 in New York City and operates within a network of anti-Zionist, pro-Palestinian groups that organize protests against the state of Israel. ³ WOL existed under the name Students for Justice in Palestine NYC as a subsidiary of National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) until 2019 when it rebranded and expanded beyond its student-based constituency. ^{4 5} SJP is a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel advocacy group which creates student activism on college campuses. Its efforts include protesting Jewish speakers, supporting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, and supporting student groups which back the BDS movement. ^{6 7}

Initiatives

Within Our Lifetime has published 12 campaigns on its website, the most prominent of which are its Globalize the Intifada campaign and its Boycott Zionist Dates campaign. ⁸ Globalize the Intifada was a 2021 initiative to protest against the alleged “ethnic cleansing and genocide” of Palestinians by Israel. ⁹

Dates are a traditional food eaten to break the Muslim Ramadan fast, and the Boycott Zionist Dates campaign is a 2024 WOL initiative in response to the Israel-Hamas War that encourages Muslims in New York and America to boycott Israeli date producers and suppliers. ¹⁰ WOL states that through this campaign, it hopes “to ensure that no one breaks their fast with dates that support occupation and genocide.” ¹⁰

WOL’s “points of unity” include commitment to the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland, to the cause of anti-Zionism, to the right to resist, and to the creation of an international struggle against “U.S. imperialism.” ¹¹

The radical nature of WOL’s social media accounts led Instagram, owned by Meta, to remove the WOL account from its platform as of Febraury 2024. ¹²

In February 2024, WOL published a report on the repression of pro-Palestinian elements in New York City by the New York Police Department. ¹³ The report argued that New York was engaging in surveillance and discriminatory policing of Muslims, especially those in support of Palestine. ¹³

Protests and Activities

Within Our Lifetime organized a march in front of the Brooklyn Museum near the headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish movement in October 2023. WOL intended the protest to be a loud cry “‘in defense of Gaza and Palestine,’” stating on the poster for the protest, “the more they try and silence us, the louder we will be.” ¹⁴

WOL participated in another October 2023 protest across the Brooklyn Bridge in support of Jewish Voice for Peace, a radical left-of-center, pro-Hamas group, carrying signs that read, ““Israeli Apartheid & Genocide Funded By The U.S.,” and “Honor the Martyrs of Palestine.” ¹⁵

Within Our Lifetime scheduled a protest titled “Flood the United Nations General Assembly for Gaza” on September 23, 2025, at United Nations Plaza in New York City. The group has previously been linked to disruptive protests in the city. ¹⁶

In March 2026, it was reported that Alexander Heifler, an alleged member of the Jewish Defense League, had been arrested and charged with planning to throw Molotov cocktails at the home of WOL founder Nerdeen Kiswani in New Jersey. ¹⁷

Partners

Within Our Lifetime organizes protests in conjunction with several other pro-Palestinian groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace, Decolonize this Place, and Existence is Resistance. ^{18 19 20}

Leadership

Within Our Lifetime’s co-founder and former chair of Students for Justice in Palestine, NYC, is Nerdeem Kiswani. ⁴ Kiswani attends City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law and has been arrested on numerous occasions for her participation in pro-Hezbollah protests at which she burned the American flag and called for Palestinian intifada, or “rebellion.” ^{21 22 23}

Abdullah Akl is a leading organizer for WOL who has been seen leading several WOL protests. ²⁴ Akl graduated from Long Island University Brooklyn with a degree in Political Science and International Relations, and now attends Harvard University in pursuit of a Master’s Degree in Government. ²⁵ He is also the Director of Advocacy at the Muslim American Society (MAS) Staten Island Center. ²⁵ Akl was arrested in March 2024 at a rally in New York City, where in an X/Twitter post he claimed he was “protesting against the genocide in Gaza.” ²⁶

At the Land Day protest in April 2024, Abdullah Akl was seen shouting in videos of the protest, “Strike, strike, Tel Aviv. Abu Obeida, our beloved,” and calling for “intifada.” ² The chants were interpreted as an effort to call on Abu Obeida, a Hamas terrorist and leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, to strike the prominent Israeli city of Tel Aviv, and to continue to fight for Palestinian liberation, or intifada. ² The video has since been deleted from the internet. ²