Plot to firebomb Palestinian activist’s home disrupted by FBI and NYPD

NEW YORK (AP) — Law enforcement officials disrupted a plot to firebomb the New York City home of a prominent Palestinian activist, according to a criminal complaint and an interview with the targeted activist.

Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder of the group Within Our Lifetime, said she was informed by an FBI official late Thursday that “a threat on my life that was about to take place.” She said she was told that the man, Alexander Heifler, had been apprehended.

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.

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, 31, 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,” she said.

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