Pro-Palestinian activist speaks out after foiled assassination plot
LOWER MANHATTAN (WABC) -- The pro-Palestinian activist who was the target of an assassination plot thwarted by law enforcement spoke out for the first time on Monday since police arrested a suspect.
Police say the suspect was planning to firebomb the home of 31-year-old Nerdeen Kiswani.
She spoke outside of City Hall on Monday morning after the arrest of 26-year-old Alexander Heifler last Thursday.
He is accused of assembling eight Molotov cocktails working with an undercover NYPD officer to target Kiswani.
"When I learned that someone was preparing to attack my home, building explosives with the intention of taking my life, I was not just processing that as a public figure, I was processing that as a mother, holding my infant, thinking what it means for someone to target my home where my child sleeps, where my family is supposed to be safe," Kiswani said.
She was supported on Monday by an arsenal of pro-Palestinian activists, human rights activists and Islamic activists who are all calling on lawmakers to more strongly denounce the attacks.
Kiswani talked about being at home and receiving a number of phone calls Thursday night from an unknown caller but she was too afraid to answer.
She said her parents and siblings then started getting calls too. When her brother eventually answered the phone, that is when they learned that an arrest had been made.
"We tried to get information on who this person was, their name, the nature of the arrest, but they didn't reveal, they said that I would find out about it in the news the next day," Kiswani said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the incident on Monday and said he is relieved that Kiswani is safe.
"I think any New Yorker has the right to critique and also we need to protect them from any threat of political violence, that is the truth for Nerdeen and for anyone who calls this city home," Mamdani said. "I want to be very clear that we do not tolerate any kind of violent extremism in this city -- no one should face violence for their political beliefs or for their advocacy."
Kiswani is the founder of Within our Lifetime, a pro-Palestinian organization that has protested the war in Gaza. She said the threats on her life have only increased since Heifler's arrest, but that has only strengthened her resolve.
"Despite the threats, despite the harassment, the strike, even this assassination plot, I will continue to speak out for my people and for justice," Kiswani said. "No mother set out to hold her child and wonder if their home is being targeted."
Her attorneys are calling for the temperature to be turned down on Islamophobia and for other lawmakers to speak out against the purported terror plot.
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