Pro-Palestinian activist filed lawsuit alleging threats weeks before foiled firebomb plot

A pro-Palestinian activist whose home was the target of a foiled firebombing plot had previously filed a federal lawsuit accusing a far-right pro-Israel group of orchestrating threats and intimidation against her.

A pro-Palestinian activist whose home was the target of a foiled firebombing plot had previously filed a federal lawsuit accusing a far-right pro-Israel group of orchestrating threats and intimidation against her.

Weeks before authorities arrested a New Jersey man accused of plotting a Molotov cocktail attack on her home, activist Nerdeen Kiswani filed a lawsuit against Betar Zionist Organization and several of its leaders under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, a Reconstruction-era law originally designed to combat KKK violence.

Kiswani’s suit, filed on Feb. 26, alleges a monthslong campaign of stalking, intimidation and racially motivated threats, including offers of cash rewards to anyone who physically harmed her and repeated confrontations at demonstrations across New York City.

Kiswani, the founder of the pro-Palestinian advocacy group Within Our Lifetime, has organized protests across New York City in support of Palestinians in Gaza, including encampments at universities calling for their divestment from Israel.

Among the incidents detailed in the complaint, the group, also referred to in the lawsuit as Betar USA, allegedly offered $1,000 in January 2025 to any member of the public who could hand Kiswani “a beeper” — an apparent reference to a September 2024 Israeli military operation in which pagers and other electronic devices exploded in Lebanon, killing and injuring many.