Assassination plot targeting NYC Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani disrupted by FBI

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Nerdeen Kiswani speaks during a protest commemorating Nakba Day on May 15, 2025 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Credit: Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

NEW YORK - Federal law enforcement officers thwarted a plot to assassinate the leader of one of New York’s most active pro-Palestinian protest groups on Thursday night, according to a criminal complaint and an interview with the targeted activist.

The New York Times was the first media outlet to report the news. 

Assassination plot targeting Nerdeen Kiswani disrupted

Big picture view:

According to law enforcement officials, the plot was to firebomb the New York City home of the prominent Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani.

The F.B.I. notified Kiswani and her legal team late Thursday that one or more arrests had been made in connection with the imminent attempt on her life.

What they're saying:

"Late last night the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force informed me that a plot against my life that was ‘about to’ take place, and that agents had conducted an operation in Hoboken related to this plot," Kiswani said in a statement on the social media platform X, linking the New York Times story. "For months, Zionist organizations like Betar and politicians like Randy Fine have encouraged violence against my family and me. I will have more to say as additional details come to light. I will not stop speaking up for the people of Palestine. Thank you for your support."

She said she was told that the man, Alexander Heifler, had been apprehended.

Dig deeper:

According to a criminal complaint, Heifler, a New Jersey resident, was arrested in his New Jersey home late Thursday after an undercover operation revealed that he planned to throw a dozen Molotov cocktails at Kiswani's home.

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He had spent weeks discussing the plot with an undercover law enforcement official, at one point going to scope out her home, the complaint said.

He invited the undercover into his home Thursday, where he had assembled components for the bombs, including rags, corks and the highly flammable alcohol, Everclear.

Kiwani said she was shell-shocked by the news, but not surprised.

"I feel very blessed that they were able to thwart this, but it’s something that is a constant possibility for people who speak up on behalf of Palestine," the 31-year-old said.

A spokesperson for the NYPD said the operation was part of a joint operation within their counterterrorism bureau.