Pro-Palestinian activist filed lawsuit alleging threats weeks before foiled firebomb plot

A pro-Palestinian activist whose home was the target of a foiled firebombing plot previously filed a federal lawsuit accusing a far-right pro-Israel group of orchestrating threats and intimidation against her.

Weeks before authorities arrested a New Jersey man accused of planning a Molotov cocktail attack on his home, activist Nerdeen Kiswani filed a lawsuit against the Zionist organization Betar and several of its leaders under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, a Reconstruction-era law originally designed to combat KKK violence.

Kiswani’s complaint, filed February 26, alleges a months-long campaign of racially motivated harassment, intimidation and threats, including offers of cash rewards to anyone who physically harmed him and repeated confrontations at protests across New York City.

Kiswani, founder of the pro-Palestinian advocacy group Within Our Lifetime, has organized protests across New York City in support of Palestinians in Gaza, including encampments at universities calling for their divestment from Israel.

Among the incidents detailed in the complaint, the group, also called Betar USA in the lawsuit, allegedly offered $1,000 in January 2025 to any member of the public who could hand Kiswanis “a beep” — an apparent reference to a September 2024 Israeli military operation in which pagers and other electronic devices exploded in Lebanon, killing and injuring many people.

Betar USA members also confronted Kiswani in protests and demanded the Trump administration strip him of his U.S. citizenship, submitting his name to federal authorities for that purpose, according to the lawsuit.

Betar USA did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

These two cases highlight the heightened tensions since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023 and how this climate has contributed to violent incidents in the United States.

On Thursday, Alexander Heifler was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of destructive devices and manufacturing destructive devices, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. The NYPD said it identified and foiled the plot.

The charges against him each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Court documents describe an undercover NYPD officer participating in a video call in February during which Heifler asked the group for a location where he could throw “Molotovs,” according to the complaint. Over the next several weeks, Heifler met with the officer in person and allegedly shared the home address of an individual he intended to attack, as well as details about vehicles parked outside the residence. The complaint does not identify Kiswani by name.

Heifler allegedly planned to flee the country after carrying out the attack and intended to wear gloves to avoid leaving DNA evidence, according to the complaint.

When law enforcement executed a search warrant at his home Thursday — the same day he met the undercover agent again — they recovered eight assembled Molotov cocktails. An FBI bomb technician discovered that the devices contained ethanol as an ignition accelerant.

Heifler was reportedly affiliated with the Jewish Defense League, which the FBI classified as a right-wing terrorist organization.

In a statement, which did not name Heifler, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said a suspected member of a branch of the Jewish Defense League had been arrested in connection with a threat against Kiswani. He called the threat “a frightening act of political violence.”

A court-appointed attorney for Heifler did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent Saturday evening.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a statement that the investigation was ongoing but that there was “currently no threat to the community.”

In a statement posted to

“For months, Zionist organizations like Betar… have encouraged violence against my family and me,” Kiswani wrote in the statement, adding that she “will not stop speaking on behalf of the Palestinian people.”

Kiswani’s lawyers said she had been targeted by right-wing “Zionist extremist groups and individuals” for several years in what they described as an attempt to silence her advocacy.

“Their encouragement of physical violence against her has now culminated in an assassination attempt,” read a statement from the law firm Lee & Godshall-Bennett. “Those responsible for this attempted act of terrorism must be held accountable. Regardless of their views, everyone who cares about our freedom to express our opinions and beliefs should unequivocally side with Nerdeen.”