National Jewish Advocacy Center Demands NY Attorney General Investigate Radical Pro-Palestine Groups
The National Jewish Advocacy Center files formal request calling for investigation into Within Our Lifetime and Al-Awda, citing pattern of violence and intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers
The National Jewish Advocacy Center delivered a formal letter to New York Attorney General Letitia James on January 14, 2026, requesting immediate investigation into two prominent pro-Palestine organizations—Within Our Lifetime and Al-Awda (the Palestine Right to Return Coalition)—based on what the legal group describes as an extensive public record of violence, intimidation, and identity-based targeting of Jewish New Yorkers.
The timing of the request carries particular weight. Just one day before NJAC sent its letter, Attorney General James announced a settlement requiring Betar US to wind down operations in New York.
“If New York’s standard is no groups that engage in bias-motivated assaults, threats, and harassment, then it can’t be selectively enforced,” said Mark Goldfeder, CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, in announcing the letter. “Same city. Same law.”
Documented Pattern of Violence and Intimidation
The four-page letter, signed by Goldfeder and four NJAC senior litigation counsels, outlines what the organization characterizes as a sustained pattern of physical violence and assaultive conduct connected to Within Our Lifetime and Al-Awda demonstrations. The allegations include incidents resulting in arrests, injuries, and documented assaults on counter-protesters and bystanders.
The letter highlights the federal conviction of Within Our Lifetime leader Saadah Masoud, who was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison in March 2023 for a hate-crime conspiracy involving multiple antisemitic assaults in New York City between 2021 and 2022. The U.S. Attorney’s office described Masoud’s “repeated physical attacks” on Jewish individuals in Manhattan.
The NJAC letter describes a Nov. 26, 2025 protest outside Park East Synagogue that it says was jointly organized by Within Our Lifetime and Al‑Awda, where demonstrators shouted slogans including “Death, death to the IDF” and “From New York to Gaza, Globalize the intifada”.
Separately, NJAC points to a recent Al‑Awda protest outside a Queens synagogue next to a Jewish day school, where it says about 200 demonstrators—many masked— shouted at Jews attending an Israel-related event, including “We support Hamas here!” The demonstration created such palpable fear that the Jewish day school dismissed early.
The investigation request goes beyond allegations of threatening speech, documenting what NJAC describes as repeated vandalism and destruction of city property. The letter details damage to public infrastructure, defacement of public spaces, and incidents involving smoke bombs and road flares deployed "with open flames in crowded areas to intimidate and terrorize others."
Charitable Oversight Concerns
Beyond public safety allegations, the NJAC letter raises serious charitable-oversight concerns. According to the letter, Within Our Lifetime is not registered as a 501(c)(3) organization or as a charitable organization in New York, despite conducting “ongoing and aggressive fundraising directed at New York residents.”
The letter notes that, to the extent Within Our Lifetime operates through fiscal sponsors or affiliated entities—such as WESPAC or other intermediaries—there are substantial questions regarding donor disclosure, financial transparency, and whether New York’s charitable-oversight laws are being circumvented through organizational obfuscation.
Requested Actions
The National Jewish Advocacy Center’s letter requests Attorney General James open a formal investigation into Within Our Lifetime and Al-Awda based on the extensive public record of violence, intimidation, and identity-based targeting; evaluate charitable solicitation compliance, including whether Within Our Lifetime’s fundraising activities violate New York registration, reporting, or transparency requirements; and assess leadership communications and organizational coordination that appear to encourage intimidation, glorify violence, and direct harassment toward protected communities.
The National Jewish Advocacy Center copied Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the letter. His handling of synagogue protests has sparked tensions with Jewish community leaders since his election.
This will go nowhere. These groups are radical leftist AG Laetitia James’ friends, that is if she isn’t a member herself. Expecting any measure of justice in NY at this point is crazy.
What will be the measurable consequences should she refuse?