A man from New Jersey has been taken into custody after allegedly planning to throw firebombs at the home of a well-known Palestinian activist, as per a federal complaint and the New York City Police Department. The intended target of the plot was Nerdeen Kiswani, a vocal Palestinian activist based in Brooklyn who is a co-founder of Within Our Lifetime.
Kiswani, 31, was informed late Thursday by an FBI official about a threat on her life, which led to the apprehension of the suspect, Andrew Heifler. Heifler was caught in the act of assembling Molotov cocktails to target Kiswani’s residence, after engaging in discussions about the plan with an undercover officer for several weeks and conducting surveillance of Kiswani’s home.
Charged with two firearms offenses in a criminal complaint filed on Thursday, Heifler did not have legal representation listed in the online court docket at the time of the report. According to the complaint, Heifler had expressed interest in self-defense training during a video call in February and later met with an undercover officer to discuss his intention to vandalize Kiswani’s home, mentioning his plan to flee the country post-attack.
Heifler’s plan to leave the country was initially set for the end of April but was later postponed to mid-May. On March 4, he and the undercover officer drove to Kiswani’s residence to conduct surveillance and discussed creating multiple Molotov cocktails, including targeting parked cars in addition to Kiswani’s home.
During a meeting at Heifler’s residence in Hoboken, N.J., law enforcement officers intervened as Heifler was preparing Molotov cocktails, resulting in the recovery of the devices. Preliminary tests by FBI bomb experts confirmed the destructive nature of the Molotov cocktails. Kiswani expressed shock but not surprise at the news, emphasizing the ongoing risk faced by individuals advocating for Palestine.