Anti-Israel activist’s home the target of planned firebombing, Justice Dept says

Alexander Heifler, 26, of Hoboken, N.J., was charged on March 26 with unlawfully possessing and manufacturing destructive devices in connection with a plot to allegedly target a private residence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said.

Jessica Tisch, New York City Police Department commissioner, identified the target as Nerdeen Kiswani, who is co-founder of the anti-Israel protest group Within Our Lifetime.

“This NYPD investigation uncovered an alleged plot by Alexander Heifler to carry out a violent attack against Nerdeen Kiswani. Our undercover officer identified and tracked the threat—first online and then in person—allowing us to disrupt the planned attack, take Heifler into custody and ensure that no one was harmed,” Tisch stated. “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.”

“Once again, the men and women of the NYPD have done the courageous and dangerous work necessary to keep people safe,” the commissioner stated.

The U.S. Justice Department charged Heifler with a count of unlawful possession of destructive devices and a count of making destructive devices. Heifler began discussing plans in February to make Molotov cocktails and attack a residence with them, and he asked someone, who he didn’t know to be an undercover law enforcement officer, where he could practice throwing such makeshift explosives, according to the criminal complaint.

He later surveilled the home and told the undercover officer at an in-person meeting that he planned to make about a dozen explosives and planned to throw some at vehicles parked outside, per the complaint. On Friday, law enforcement saw him assemble the devices at his Hoboken residence using high-proof alcohol and other materials. Federal agents executed a warrant and found eight Molotov cocktails. Preliminary tests suggested ethanol, “a known ignition liquid for improvised incendiary devices,” the Justice Department said.

Heifler faces up to 20 years in prison. JNS sought comment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey about alleged motive. The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, who as of March 3, does not yet have security clearance, identified the target as Kiswani well before the NYPD named her.

“Last night, an alleged member of the Jewish Defense League—designated by the FBI as a ‘known violent extremist organization’—attempted to blow up the home of Nerdeen Kiswani in a chilling act of political violence and an apparent assassination plot,” Mamdani stated. “The defendant allegedly planned to flee to Israel following the attack.”

“This comes amidst an alarming rise in threats and violence across the country targeting Palestinian human rights advocates. I am thankful that the NYPD and FBI thwarted this plot, which could have endangered Nerdeen’s life and those of other New Yorkers,” he added. “Let me be clear: We will not tolerate violent extremism in our city. No one should face violence for their political beliefs or their advocacy. I am relieved that Nerdeen is safe. Our city must meet hate with solidarity, and meet fear with an unshakable commitment to justice and to one another.”

About an hour and a half later, Mamdani issued a “corrected” statement, in which he changed the first part of what he said, referring this time to an “offshoot” of the JDL and to the person “allegedly building explosive devices” rather than having “attempted to blow up” the home. He also removed the reference to an “apparent assassination plot” and said that the suspect “reportedly” planned to go to Israel, rather than “allegedly.”

“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. The defendant reportedly planned to flee to Israel following the attack,” the mayor stated.

Before the mayor removed his social media post referring to the suspect “allegedly” planning to flee to Israel, Kiswani wrote thanking him for his “important statement.”

“There has never been a New York City mayor willing to call out Jewish extremism for what it is,” she wrote. “I also appreciate that you clarified the JDL member planned to flee to Israel. This is an important detail that confirms what I have been thinking.”

Mamdani has drawn criticism in the past for responding slowly, or not at all, to anti-Israel and antisemitic attacks and of obscuring the role of extremist Islamists in terror. He issued the statement about this alleged plot more quickly. In the past, before he was mayor, he said that “when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.”

Kiswani is a Palestinian-American who was born in Jordan and grew up in Brooklyn. She wrote on social media that the FBI told her of “a plot against my life.” She added that “Zionist organizations like Betar and politicians like Randy Fine have encouraged violence against my family and me.”

She has accused Israel regularly of “genocide.” In July 2025, she said that “there is no future for humanity where Israel continues to exist as a state. Anything less is complicity in mass murder.” On Nov. 28, 2023, less than two months after Oct. 7, she wrote that “what I said on Oct. 7, and Ima say it again. Colonization is inherently violent. Never equate the violence of the colonized with the colonizer. That necessitates supporting our right to defend ourselves and liberate our homeland. Freedom has always been achieved through resistance.”