New York (AFP) – A US-based Palestinian-American activist said Friday that the FBI had disrupted an imminent plot to assassinate her, as authorities charged a 26-year-old man with possessing Molotov cocktails he meant to use against her home. Nerdeen Kiswani leads Within Our Lifetime, a Palestinian advocacy group active in New York City, and has been a key figure in organizing protests particularly focused on the Gaza war.
“Late last night the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force informed me that a plot against my life was ‘about to’ take place,” Kiswani wrote on X. The suspect, Alexander Heifler, from New Jersey, was arrested after he unwittingly shared with an undercover officer his plans to throw Molotov cocktails into Kiswani’s home, according to charging documents. Authorities recovered eight of the incendiary bottles from Heifler’s residence and said he expressed plans to leave the United States after the attack. Heifler faces separate counts of making and possessing destructive devices, which each carry up to 10 years in prison. He appeared at a New Jersey court on Friday. The motive behind the apparent plot was not immediately clear.
The New York Times, citing a police source, reported that Heifler was a member of a branch of the Jewish Defense League, which the FBI has deemed a terrorist organization.
– ‘Chilling act’ – CAIR, a Muslim civil rights group, praised the law enforcement response and called for a thorough investigation. “This disturbing case underscores the growing climate of harassment, threats, and violence directed at those speaking out on Palestinian human rights and other social justice issues,” it wrote on X. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the alleged scheme against Kiswani “a chilling act of political violence.”
Kiswani said on X that pro-Israel groups had been inciting people to target her. “For months, Zionist organizations like Betar and politicians like Randy Fine have encouraged violence against my family and me,” she said. Last month Kiswani sued Betar US, a right-wing pro-Israel group, for allegedly violating her civil rights by offering “bounties” on social media for people to harass or assault her. Fine, a Republican lawmaker, was accused of Islamophobia after suggesting in a post on X that he would choose dogs over Muslims in response to a tweet by Kiswani describing dogs as “unclean.”
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