Plot to firebomb Palestinian activist's home disrupted by NYPD undercover operation
NEW YORK (AP) — A New Jersey man who planned to firebomb the home of a prominent Palestinian activist was arrested Thursday following a weekslong undercover operation led by the New York City Police Department, according to officials and court papers.
The target of the plot was Nerdeen Kiswani, an outspoken Palestinian activist who frequently leads protests against Israel and the war in Gaza through the organization Within Our Lifetime.
Kiswani, 31, said law enforcement officials informed her late Thursday that they had disrupted “a threat on my life that was about to take place."
Federal authorities said they had arrested Andrew Heifler, 26, as he was assembling Molotov cocktails that he planned to throw at Kiswani’s home. For weeks, he had discussed the plot with an undercover NYPD detective who had infiltrated a group chat used by Heifler, according to a police department spokesperson.
Kiswani was targeted for her pro-Palestinian views, the spokesperson added.
“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,” said Kiswani, who lives in Brooklyn with her infant son and husband. She said the plot would not deter her continued activism.
Heifler was charged in a criminal complaint with separate counts of making and possessing destructive devices, which each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. An online court docket did not list a lawyer for him and inquiries to possible relatives were not returned. He was expected to make an initial appearance in New Jersey federal court on Friday afternoon.
According to the complaint, Heifler spoke on a video call in February with a group that included an undercover detective about his interest in training for “self-defense” and wanting space where he could throw Molotov cocktails.
The next day, he met with the undercover detective in person and discussed his plan to use them against Kiswani and flee the country, according to the complaint. “We have (Kiswani's) address," Heifler allegedly told the undercover. "So it’s like that, that would be easier if you’d be more comfortable with that.”
Heifler and the undercover detective drove to Kiswani’s residence on March 4 to “conduct surveillance” and discussed making a dozen Molotov cocktails to throw at her home and two cars parked outside, complaint said.
On Thursday, the undercover detective and Heifler met at Heifler’s Hoboken residence, where he had assembled components to make the Molotov cocktails, including a large bottle of Everclear, a highly flammable alcohol, the complaint said. Law enforcement officers then executed a search warrant at the residence and recovered the eight Molotov cocktails, the complaint said.
Kiswani has been a frequent target of online vitriol. Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, a Florida Republican, earned backlash after writing in a social media post that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” The post was a response to a message Kiswani shared about dog owners, which she said was light joke.
“That hate against Palestinians has been bolstered by public officials, by Zionist organizations, who are never held accountable,” she said. “This is the inevitable result of that.”
Kiswani co-founded the group Within Our Lifetime, which frequently organizes protests against Israel that draw hundreds of participants and often end in arrests. The group’s calls to “abolish Zionism” and support for “all forms of struggle,” including violence, has drawn fierce criticism. Kiswani denies that her criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism.
The operation was carried out by the Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism unit within the NYPD’s counterterrorism bureau, a police spokesperson said.
“This is exactly how our intelligence and counterterrorism operation is designed to work — a sophisticated apparatus built to detect danger early and prevent violence before it reaches our streets,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
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