Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani’s lawyers said Monday that the threat against her may extend beyond the man charged in last week’s foiled firebomb plot,
Nerdeen Kiswani held a press conference in City Hall Park on March 30, 2026 about the foiled assassination attempt on her lifeSpeaking outside City Hall, attorney Eric Lee said federal agents told Kiswani’s legal team she was safe only from the “specific threat” tied to the arrested suspect, not necessarily from any broader danger.
Kiswani is the founder of the pro-Palestinian advocacy group Within Our Lifetime and has been a prominent organizer of demonstrations in New York City.Lee said that is why his team believes investigators should further scrutinize the Feb. 10 group video call described in the criminal complaint, which he said suggested others may have had knowledge of the alleged plot. Another lawyer for Kiswani, Jonathan Abady, said the legal team would not be “playing defense” going forward and signaled that they intend to pursue additional action against people and groups they believe contributed to the threat environment around her. He described the effort as an “offensive operation” to defend the rights of people speaking out for Palestinians. The remarks came after federal authorities announced charges on Friday against Alexander Heifler, 26, of Hoboken, NJ, in connection with what investigators allege was a plot to attack Kiswani’s home with Molotov cocktails. The criminal complaint identifies the target only as “Victim-1,” but Kiswani has since been publicly identified as the intended victim in the case.filed in New Jersey charges Heifler with unlawful possession of firearms and unlawful making of firearms, charges tied to alleged destructive devices under federal law. Asked whether she believed the charges were sufficient, Kiswani said she did not think they “fit the crime,” arguing that they did not reflect what she described as the hate crime, terrorism and premeditation aspects of the alleged plot. According to the court filing, Heifler participated in a Feb. 10 video call with a group that included an undercover law enforcement officer, during which he asked about a place where he could throw “Molotovs.” The next day, according to the filing, he met with the undercover officer in person and discussed vandalizing the home of a person identified in the complaint only as “Victim-1.” Investigators say he shared the address of that residence, discussed using fake license plates and leaving the country afterward, and later conducted surveillance of the home with the undercover officer. The complaint alleges that, during a March 4 meeting, Heifler said he had previously made a Molotov cocktail and discussed using gloves to avoid leaving DNA evidence. Investigators say he and the undercover officer then talked through a plan to build about a dozen Molotov cocktails, with some intended for the residence and some for cars parked outside. On March 26, according to the complaint, the two met at Heifler’s Hoboken residence, where they assembled eight Molotov cocktails before law enforcement executed a search warrant and seized them.In a Friday statement, Mayor Zohran Mamdani cast the alleged plot not simply as an isolated criminal case but as part of a wider pattern of political violence targeting Palestinian advocates. He said that “a member of an offshoot of the Jewish Defense League — designated by the FBI as a ‘known violent extremist organization’ — was allegedly building explosive devices to target the home of Nerdeen Kiswani in a chilling act of political violence.” Mamdani also said the defendant reportedly planned to flee to Israel after the attack, praised the NYPD and FBI for thwarting the plot, and warned that New York “will not tolerate violent extremism.” He framed the case as part of what he called an “alarming rise in threats and violence across the country targeting Palestinian human rights advocates,” while emphasizing that no one should face violence for political beliefs or advocacy.At Monday’s press conference, Kiswani cited Mamdani’s remarks as the strongest response from an elected official, saying his office explicitly named both her and the alleged perpetrators rather than speaking in vague terms about public safety alone. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a statement last week that the investigation is ongoing and that there is “no current threat to the community.” But Kiswani and her lawyers said Monday they do not believe the danger has ended. Kiswani told reporters that the FBI contacted her family late Thursday night and said someone had been on the way to harm her, but that an arrest had been made. Kiswani said she has continued to receive violent threats since the arrest, including messages about coming to her home and “sending bullets” there. As a result, she has tightened already extensive safety precautions for both herself and her family. “I definitely still feel threatened,” she said, adding that she no longer feels comfortable going out alone, even for routine errands. She said she had already been living under intense pressure before the alleged plot was uncovered, describing repeated threats during her pregnancy and saying her family had developed safety plans and location-sharing routines out of fear that something could happen. Monday’s appearance also tied the alleged plot to a broader campaign of intimidation that Kiswani has said she has faced for months. On Feb. 25, sheand several of its leaders under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, alleging stalking, intimidation, and racially motivated threats. In that suit, Kiswani alleges that the group and its members engaged in a sustained campaign to harass and endanger her because of her activism. The February complaint alleges Betar repeatedly offered cash rewards to anyone who would hand her a “beeper,” urged supporters to confront her at protests, threatened to strip her of her U.S. citizenship, and tracked her whereabouts in New York. The suit says the campaign became so sustained that it interfered with her ability to use public spaces and travel freely within the city.after an investigation found the group had engaged in a campaign of violence, harassment and intimidation targeting Muslim, Arab, Palestinian and Jewish New Yorkers. Under the agreement, Betar was barred from instigating or encouraging violence and harassment, subjected to a suspended $50,000 penalty if it violates the settlement, and said it was winding down operations in New York while seeking to dissolve its nonprofit corporation.Kiswani’s lawyers argued Monday that the criminal case in New Jersey should not be viewed as an isolated matter. Lee said the February 10 group call described in the complaint suggests that others may have had knowledge of or involvement in the events leading up to the arrest, and said the legal team wants investigators to fully examine that possibility.The legal team said Monday that a hearing in her civil case against Betar is scheduled for April 14 in the Southern District of New York. They said they plan to use both the courts and public pressure to pursue accountability not only for the man charged in New Jersey, but also for those they say incited violence against her. Calling for “accountability for those who incite and organize violence” and “protection for Palestinian activists and our community,” Kiswani said the issue was larger than her own case and centered on whether Palestinians and others “who stand for justice are allowed to exist, to speak and to organize without facing intimidation and violence.” She vowed that the alleged assassination plot would not silence her. “I will not stop speaking out for the Palestinian people, despite the threats, despite the harassment, despite even this assassination plot,” she said, adding that “no mother should have to hold her child and wonder if their home has been targeted.”after being assaulted during argument, cops sayNXT behind the scenesPulitzer winner John Patrick Shanley debuts new play in NYCNYPD officer shoots and kills pit bull after animal attacks owner in Queens: cops
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