Within Our Lifetime (WOL), one of the most outspoken anti-Israel organizations in the US, is planning to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel with a mass demonstration in New York City, The Algemeiner has learned.

“Flood New York City for Palestine,” says a poster advertising the event. “No work. No school. All out for Gaza.”

WOL is calling on pro-Hamas agitators to storm several areas across Manhattan, including Wall Street, City Hall, Washington Square Park, Union Square, Grand Central, Times Square, and Columbus Circle.

“As we approach the one year mark of the monstrous kidnappings and massacres of Oct. 7, it is astounding to see people rally in support of Iran and its proxies,” Roz Rothstein of StandWithUs, a Jewish civil rights group, told The Algemeiner on Wednesday in response to the news. “Israel will continue to defend its citizens against the heinous terrorism coming from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and it will do so with courage, strategy, and integrity.”

This is not WOL’s first pro-Hamas promotion of Islamist terrorism.

Just last week, its followers amassed in the hundreds for a demonstration held outside the Loews Regency New York Hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was staying before addressing the United Nations the following morning.

“Netanyahu, we’re gonna get you,” the protesters, led by WOL and its founder and leader Nerdeen Kiswani chanted, appearing to threaten the prime minister’s life. Flanked on all sides by dozens of New York City Police Department (NYPD) Bike Unit officers assigned to contain the demonstration, they waved Palestinian flags and signs calling for the destruction of Israel.

Later in the night, the protesters defied law enforcement officers’ orders to stay within the space they allowed, resulting in several arrests and additional charges for resisting arrest and obstructing justice. During the detainments, they screamed expletives at officers, calling them “fascists,” “p—ssies,” and “pieces of sh—t.” Others, jamming their cell phone cameras into the thick of the confrontations, demanded to know the officers’ names, presumably to report them for misconduct.

Within Our Lifetime has been one of the principal agents of mass demonstrations in New York City, the aim of which is the disruption of the local economy and sabotaging of public services, as happened in April when it led the local operation of the “Coordinated Economic Blockade to Free Palestine.” Seeking to block the “arteries of capitalism,” Kiswani led WOL to Wall Street, where it attempted to bring trading on the New York Stock Exchange to a halt.

In July, Kiswani indiscriminately targeted individual Jews, defending a man who had entered subway cars asking Zionists to identify themselves and deboard.

“We don’t want zionists in Palestine, NYC, our schools, on the train, ANYWHERE [sic],” she later tweeted. “This is free speech, it is saying we don’t want racists here.”

During the summer, WOL participated in demonstrations designed to disrupt Fourth of July celebrations marking US Independence Day. A crush of anti-Zionists poured into the streets of New York City and Philadelphia, chanting anti-American slogans and others — such as “long live the intifada” — calling for terrorism. For its contribution, WOL set hundreds of people for a march through Washington Square Park, where they burned the American flag.

Earlier in the year, the group conducted a siege on the Brooklyn Museum.

“Some of the most heinous antisemitic rhetoric and incidents seen in New York City since Oct. 7 have been perpetrated by WOL supporters and members, including vociferously demanding the expulsion of Zionists from New York City,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center on Extremism has said about the group. “Since Oct. 7, WOL has hosted or co-sponsored some 100 anti-Israel rallies many of which included explicit support for violence against Israeli civilians by US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Hezbollah, the Houthis, and affiliated individuals such as Leila Khaled and Hamas’ military wing spokesperson Abu Obaida. WOL also expressed enthusiastic support for Iran’s unprecedented April 13 drone-and-missile attack on Israel.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Pro-Hamas Group Planning Oct. 7 Celebration in New York City first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Amid a continuing surge in antisemitic hate crimes, Jewish institutions in the US have beefed up their security measures for the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which this year fall around the one-year anniversary of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.

The heightened security efforts also come as Israel expands its operations against the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon and vows to respond to a massive missile attack from Iran, the chief international sponsor of both Hamas and Hezbollah.

Although there are no indicators of specific imminent threats against Jewish institutions, law enforcement officials have warned that “lone wolf” agitators could spark violence in the upcoming days.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) ramped up patrols around Jewish institutions on Monday. The police department will also monitor for potential explosive devices at bridges and radiation detection. 

Police departments in other major US cities such as Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and Philadelphia have also indicated that they will increase patrols surrounding Jewish institutions and houses of worship in an effort to prevent potential antisemitic violence from breaking out. Officials belonging to police departments across the country have stated that they hope bolstering security measures will quell anxieties among local Jewish community members.

Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Center on Extremism, told The Algemeiner that although the organization has not detected any threats against Jewish houses of worship, they should be prepared for the possibility of an attack. 

“What we have previously told Jewish institutions is that at this time, there is no known credible threat to the Jewish Community in the US,” Segal said. “Accordingly, we are advising institutions to remain open and operational throughout the upcoming High Holiday season. However, given the heightened tensions and increased risk to the community at this time, we recommend institutions review and implement a series of security precautions and procedures.”

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins on Wednesday at sundown. Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day in Judaism known as the Day of Atonement, commences next Friday at sundown. Together, they are known as the High Holidays.

A slew of anti-Israel activist groups have organized demonstrations for Monday to commemorate the anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. These groups have routinely — and erroneously — referred to the Oct. 7 onslaught, the largest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, as the beginning of a so-called “genocide” in Hamas-ruled Gaza. 

Anti-Israel groups such as Writers Against the War on Gaza, Incite! Palestine Force, and Samidoun have organized demonstrations in the upcoming week to draw attention to the plight of Palestinians. Another such organization called Within Our Lifetime is calling on its supporters to go “all out for Gaza” on Oct. 7 by skipping school and work to participate in a mass protest. 

The expected surge in anti-Israel demonstrations during the Jewish high holidays, combined with the looming anniversary of Oct. 7, has some experts worried over the safety of Jews. 

“The Jewish community is facing the most significant threat towards the community in modern history,” Kerry Sleeper — deputy director of intelligence and information sharing for the Secure Community Network, a consultancy for the national US Jewish community — told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). “The combination of High Holidays, the 10/7 anniversary, and now the potential for the world’s largest terrorist organization [Hezbollah] to exact revenge on either Israeli facilities, embassies, or consulates, or prominent Jewish leaders or prominent Israeli leaders anywhere in the world.”

Some experts fear that individuals tied to Hezbollah, which is Iran’s chief proxy force, could seek to execute an attack on American soil against the Jewish community. US agencies have foiled potential terrorist attacks by Hezbollah members in recent years and warned of potential future threats from sleeper cells.

The fears stem in part from Israel’s recent operations in Lebanon decimating Hezbollah’s top leadership. The Jewish state has also initiated ground operations in Lebanon with the reported goal of establishing a buffer zone between the two countries after Hezbollah has spent the past year attacking northern Israeli with drones, missiles, and rockets, forcing tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes.

Jonathan Schanzer, a vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JTA that Jewish citizens of less “security minded” countries within Europe and Latin America are more at risk of a Hezbollah attack than those residing in the United States. However, Schanzer said he “wouldn’t rule out an attempt to cross into the United States, or an effort to activate cells that are already here.”

Security concerns also stem from the global surge in antisemitism since the Oct. 7 massacre, which unleashed a tsunami of anti-Jewish hate that has seen several countries around the world, especially the US and European nations, record record levels of antisemitic incidents.

Last week, for example, a new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) showed that anti-Jewish hate crimes in the US spiked to a record high last year, and American Jews were the most targeted of any religious group in the country.

The FBI data came after the ADL released a report in April showing antisemitic incidents in the US rose 140 percent last year, reaching a record high of 8,873 outrages — an average of 24 every day. Most of the incidents occurred after Oct. 7, during the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The post Jewish Institutions Bolster Security Ahead of High Holidays as Experts Warn of Heightened Threat first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Brown University is concealing from the public the recommendation of an advisory committee which recently submitted its opinion on divestment from Israel to president Christina Paxson, the Brown Daily Herald reported on Tuesday.

As The Algemeiner previously reported, Brown University agreed in May to hold a vote on divestment from Israel, a demand put forth by the anti-Zionist student Brown Divest Coalition (BDC). In exchange, BDC dismantled a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” they had lived in illegally for three weeks to protest the Israel-Hamas war and the university’s academic and economic ties to Israel. According to The Brown Daily Herald, Paxson initially only promised the protesters a meeting with members of the Brown Corporation, but the students pushed for more concessions and ultimately coaxed her into making divestment a real possibility.

In May, representatives of BDC met with the Brown Corporation for preliminary talks, the Herald has reported. Since then, the group has given a presentation outlining their proposal for divestment to the university’s Advisory Committee on University Resources Management (ACRUM), which was assigned to hear it and issue its own recommendation to Paxson by Sept. 30.

ACRUM has done so, the Herald said on Tuesday, explaining that Paxson is keeping what they decided a secret.

“We know that many members of the Brown community have a strong interest in the content of ACRUM’s report,” Paxson wrote in a letter, portions of which were quoted by the paper, to the campus community. “Consistent with past practice, the report will be shared later this month at the same time that the Corporation’s decision on divestment is announced.”

Citing information provided by unnamed “university officials,” the paper added that “the report is being kept confidential to prevent the spread of misinformation about the Corporation vote and to reduce the risk of threats and hostile rhetoric directed toward ACRUM’s members.”

Brown University’s consideration of divestment from Israel, a core tenet of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement which aims to destroy Israel by forcing the severance of its business and diplomatic relationships, has been criticized by federal lawmakers and higher education experts. One of its own trustees, Joseph Edelman, was so outraged by the decision that he resigned from the Brown Corporation in protest of it.

“It’s no coincidence that leading pro-boycott groups have ties to terrorist organizations that seek the annihilation of the Jewish people,” Edelman wrote in an op-ed, published in the Wall Street Journal, which announced his resignation. “In the end, that is the goal of the BDS movement, and I can’t accept the treatment of a hate movement as legitimate and deserving of a hearing. Brown’s policy of appeasement won’t work. It is a capitulation to the very hatred that led to the Holocaust and the unspeakable horrors of Oct. 7.”

Last month, US Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) implored Brown to reject BDS, citing its “impact on Jewish students and communities.”

He continued, “For Jewish students on campus, the endorsement of such a vile movement proves that antisemitic and anti-Israel views have taken over university leadership. Normalizing views that delegitimize Israel, an American ally and the only true democracy in the Middle East, normalizes and rewards the abhorrent behavior of anti-Israel protesters, critically undermining Jewish students’ sense of security and inclusion within the academic community. This is not merely a matter of institutional policy; it has real, tangible effects on the lives and well being of students on Brown’s campus.”

Despite being reputed as one of the most progressive colleges in America, Brown University has until recently fiercely guarded its campus against BDS. Just months ago, Paxson ordered arrests of dozens of students for unlawful activity and rejected BDS even after BDC amassed inside an administrative building and vowed not to eat until she capitulated.

Paxson’s sudden concession to a group that has cheered terrorism and anti-Jewish hatred could lead to “immediate and profound legal consequences,” two dozen attorneys general in the US warned in a letter late last month.

“It may trigger the application of laws in nearly three-fourths of states prohibiting states and their instrumentalities from contracting with, investing in, or otherwise doing business with entities that discriminate against Israel, Israelis, or those who do business with either,” the missive, written principally by Arkansas state attorney Tim Griffin, explained. “Adopting that proposal may require our states — and others — to terminate any existing relationships with Brown and those associated with it, divest from any university debt held by state pension plans and other investment vehicles, and otherwise refrain from engaging with Brown and those associated with. We therefore urge you to reject this antisemitic and unlawful proposal.”

Embracing BDS may also compromise Brown’s financial health. According to new a study which measured the havoc BDS would wreak on university investment portfolios, divestment from Israel would incinerate over $300 million in returns for the university’s endowment in the just the next decade.

“University endowments that divest from Israel could face significant financial consequences,” JLens, the Jewish investment network which commissioned the study, said in September. “Lower investment returns could compromise a university’s ability to provide scholarships, fund research, and invest in campus facilities.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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