NEW REPORT: Chaos & Disruption in New York City

NEW CANARY MISSION REPORT: SHUT IT DOWN

How Within Our Lifetime Partnered With Decolonize This Place, An Anarchist Organization, to Disrupt NYC

The violent and disruptive protests in support of Hamas in New York City are not spontaneous outbursts of anti-Israel activists reacting to the war in Gaza.

They are part of a planned strategy of Nerdeen Kiswani, founder and leader of Within Our Lifetime (WOL), and Amin Husain, suspended New York University (NYU) professor and founding member of Decolonize This Place (DTP), a violent anarchist group.

KEY FINDINGS

1. Suspended antisemitic NYU Professor Amin Husain is a longtime collaborator with Nerdeen Kiswani and her violent pro-terror activist group, Within Our Lifetime.
2. Within Our Lifetime and Decolonize This Place have enacted a strategy of mobilizing their intersectional allies against ‘Zionists’ and New York authorities to paralyze the city.
3. Husain and Kiswani have positioned the Palestinian cause as the key to the liberation of other indigenous and intersectional “struggles.”
4. Violence and opposition to authority are essential parts of their strategy. They seek out and encourage it.
5. Together with Kiswani, Husain has built a violent and disruptive strategy designed to make the city “ungovernable.”

THE RIGHT CONDITIONS

As events began to unfold on October 7, Kiswani made a strategic calculation that, despite the horrific atrocities coming to light, she would be able to convince her activists and allies to continue to support Palestinian resistance.

To the astonishment of Jews, liberals and others concerned with basic human rights, Kiswani’s assessment proved correct.

As the world reeled in horror from the ever-increasing revelations of Hamas’ massacre of Israeli men, women and children, Kiswani was constructing a narrative that painted Hamas (and by extension, all Palestinians) as the victims and the Jews – those both dead and alive – as the oppressors.

One might consider it risky to assume that people would embrace this narrative, but it evidently succeeded. A significant reason is that Kiswani and Husain have dedicated at least a decade to priming their supporters for this pivotal moment in history.

Within Our Lifetime and Decolonize This Place have devised and executed a two-pronged plan:

1. To strategically frame the Palestinian conflict as a centerpiece of intersectional politics.
2. To implement tactics to disrupt New York City.

AMIN HUSAIN AND NERDEEN KISWANI

Amin Husain, a professor who was recently suspended from New York University and a founder of the anarchist group Decolonize This Place (DTP), has been at the forefront of organizing activities that aim to dismantle systems of authority, advocating for the abolition of prisons, police and other established structures.

He is known for his strong anti-American and anti-Israel sentiments and has played a pivotal role in numerous violent disruptions throughout New York City. One DTP rampage through the NYC subway system in January 2020 organized by Husain cost taxpayers $100,000 in damages.

Together with Kiswani, Husain has built a violent and disruptive strategy designed to make the city “ungovernable.”

Husain’s association with WOL dates back to at least 2016 when WOL was still operating as NYC Students for Justice in Palestine. (In 2018, Kiswani, the head of NYC SJP at the time, rebranded the group as WOL.)

TACTICS

Acts of violence, including confrontations with the police, have been a feature of Within Our Lifetime protests and activists since 2015. Not surprisingly, the group’s heroes hail from Hamas to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist terror group.

But since October 7 and the swell of WOL’s intersectional allies, the group has also incorporated disruptions and shutdowns as two of their prime tactics.

One reason is that WOL no longer needs to work on creating allies. The group now has enough to make life in the city miserable – and that’s their plan.

WOL’s targets have included: 

• The NYC Marathon
• The Christmas tree lighting in
• Rockefeller Center
• The New York Library
• The Museum of Modern Art
• Memorial Sloan Kettering
• Cancer Center Grand Central
• Station Penn Station The
• Manhattan Bridge JFK Airport

Grand Central Station

WOL Plans to ‘Ruin Christmas’

Flood JFK for Gaza Protest – New Years Day

Kiswani and Husain realized many years ago that their movement would need allies to succeed. One simple reason was that the anti-Israel crowd in New York (and beyond) would never be big enough to effect any change.

It was easy for Kiswani and Husain to find those allies, as a “pre-made” group already existed.

The “coalition of the oppressed,” which coalesced in America in 2016, consisted of minorities, indigenous peoples, feminists, queers and other groups that the Far Left deemed “victims” in America – whether due to colonialism, the “patriarchy,” gender bias, white supremacy or the catch-all culprit – capitalism.

Post September 11, Muslim Brotherhood front groups, like CAIR, worked hard to include Muslims in this coalition and they succeeded.

The only task left for Kiswani and Husain was convincing this group that “Palestine” topped all other causes and was key to “liberation” for each group.

“Zionism is Racism”

In the wake of the widespread social unrest following George Floyd’s death, the epithet that garnered the most sting in America was “racism.” Conveniently for Kiswani and Husain, the Soviets had already successfully branded Zionism as racism.

The pair worked hard to capitalize on the Black Lives Matter movement to further their fight against Israel.

“Triangulation of indigenous struggle, black liberation, and a free Palestine produce a rearrangement of relationships that make empire look [upside down].

The anti-Israel cause also dovetailed with the popular Critical Race Theory, a neo-Marxist academic movement that took over mainstream American culture in the last decade. Critical Race Theory posits that racism is the fundamental organizing principle of American society.

Institutions from schools to corporations, government agencies and the media bought into the theory and made radical changes in their operations accordingly. This included their attitude toward Israel, which, due to the slur of racism, now became a force in the Far Left world that needed to be opposed.

Racism was deemed a function of the “Patriarchal White Supremacist Nation-State,” which they defined for political purposes in the broadest terms as “settler-colonialism.”

The label “settler-colonialism” turned out to be a perfect way to delegitimize Israel, especially effective with a movement that eschewed historical facts. 

Globalize the Intifada

While the rest of the intersectional crowd was stuck in academia explaining their grievances, Kiswani and Husain took the fight to the next level. The launch of the “Globalize the Intifada” movement offered the method of the Palestinians – “intifada,” or violent uprising – as a solution based on action.

They were thus able to brand the Palestinians as both heroes and models.

Slogans such as “Resistance by any means necessary” and “Resistance is Justified When People are Occupied” resonated with their intersectional allies and gained popularity.

These phrases effectively destigmatized and romanticized the brutal reality of the terrorism they allude to.

How can you amplify the message of Globalize the Intifada? Organize an action in your neighborhood along with other communities who support Palestinian liberation and who want to channel the spirit and example of the Palestinian intifada for their own ends.

— DecolonizeThisPlace (@decolonize_this) July 30, 2021

“Becoming Ungovernable”

In 2020, Amin Husain formulated a strategy titled:

“Becoming Ungovernable.”

It was aimed at instigating significant disruptions in New York City and uniting a diverse spectrum of movements under the banner: “OUR UPRISINGS ARE QUEER, TRANS, BLACK, BROWN, PALESTINIAN, IMMIGRANT, INDIGENOUS AND GLOBAL.”

Despite this wide range of causes, the materials disseminated by Husain predominantly focused on anti-Israel protests.

One poster stated, “First they came for the Muslims, and we said ‘Not this time, motherf**ker”,” paired with imagery of a man in a keffiyeh, fist raised, symbolizing violent resistance.

Decolonize This Place detailed tactics for citywide disruption, listing items such as fire, bolt cutters, masks, glass bottles, nails, and emphasized the need for “warriors,” reflecting a militant approach to their activism.

Direct from Nerdeen Kiswani

May 11, 2021:

“We need allies that are going to help us achieve a victory. Not allies that are gonna tell us to be nonviolent!” 

June 11th 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.”

June 15th 2021: 

“We also have a right to take over this city and shut this city down and force the city to hear us whenever Palestine is being attacked.” 

September 17, 2021:

We don’t need tens of thousands of people to shut down and disrupt this city and as long as Palestinians are facing genocide, as long as Palestinians are resisting colonization by any means necessary, we must do the same here in New York City. We have to up the stakes!”

Conclusion

It is no surprise that the “theoretical” ideas of Husain and Kiswani quickly morphed into reality for New Yorkers in general and Jews in particular. Disruptions in the city began in earnest during the weeks of the 2021 “Strike MoMA” demonstration, which targeted NYC’s iconic Museum of Modern Art during Israel’s “Operation Guardian of the Walls.”

It was at that time that Husain began his first “Mapping Project,” putting a bullseye on Jewish & pro-Israel charities, individuals and corporations, an initiative that Kiswani has both embraced and intensified significantly.

At the same time, it was unsurprising that there was an enormous uptick in antisemitic attacks on Jews in all boroughs of the city in 2021. A number of these assaults stand out, such as the brutal beat-down of Joseph Borgen (for the “crime” of wearing a yamulka) by a group of WOL activists and a similar attack on Matthew Greenman, an Israel supporter on crutches, by another WOL activist.

In hindsight, these incidents look like a dress rehearsal for what is happening today. What is clear is that Husain’s and Kiswani’s allies and activists were primed and ready to go on October 7 with a well-planned strategy to support the terror group they idolize, Hamas.