Nerdeen Kiswani

Kiswani's family are refugees from the Palestinian town of Beit Iksa.^[2][3][4] Kiswani has recalled listening to her grandmother's stories about leaving Palestine on foot during the Nakba.^[5] Some of her family still lives in the West Bank.^[6] Kiswani was born in Jordan around 1994^[4][2] but grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, which has a large Arab and Palestinian community.^[7][8][9] She studied at an Islamic school and then later at public school. According to Kiswani, she experienced Islamophobia in school, including being called a terrorist.^[2]

Kiswani studied human rights and international relations at City University of New York (CUNY), attending classes at both the College of Staten Island and Hunter College.^[2] In 2015, Kiswani co-founded NYC Students for Justice in Palestine (NYC SJP), which represented multiple CUNY schools.^[1][2] Due to her activism with NYC SJP, Israeli security forces prevented Kiswani from visiting her family in the West Bank in June 2015.^[2][10][11] She has credited her desire to return to Palestine as a motivation for her activism.^[12] Later that year, Kiswani and NYC SJP published an article which criticized pro-Palestinian activists for utilizing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as their primary tactic and called BDS "a tool in a toolbox, not the toolbox itself". The BDS movement and the national SJP criticized the article.^[13][14][12]

At a protest against tuition increases in November 2015, Kiswani led students in chanting: "Zionists out of CUNY!" The slogan was cited in a letter to the CUNY administration from the Zionist Organization of America accusing SJP of antisemitism. According to Kiswani, the chant represented opposition to Zionism as an ideology and SJP did not condone banning any students from CUNY.^[4][15] In a subsequent investigation, CUNY found that SJP was not guilty of antisemitism, but Kiswani credited the investigation with undermining pro-Palestine activism at CUNY.^[16][17][18] Kiswani completed her undergraduate degree at CUNY in June 2016.^[16]

As a student at CUNY School of Law, Kiswani was president of the SJP chapter.^[19] In conjunction with SJP and the Jewish Law Students Association, Kiswani successfully organized students to vote against a resolution supporting the IHRA definition of antisemitism.^[20] Kiswani also played a key role in organizing a BDS resolution,^[1][12][21] which was passed by the student government while she was its vice president.^[22] The resolution, which was later endorsed by the faculty,^[23][12][21] stated that CUNY was implicated in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians and urged CUNY to end all academic and financial ties with Israel.^[22][24] The chancellor of CUNY released a statement that opposed the resolution and cited anti-BDS rules in New York State.^[22] In response to the BDS resolutions, city councilwoman Inna Vernikov removed funding from a free CUNY legal clinic and criticized Kiswani in her announcement of the cuts.^[23][21][1] Additionally, Kiswani continued to organize protests and other activism through her group Within Our Lifetime.^[2][12][25]

Elected as graduation speaker by the class of 2022, Kiswani's speech criticized the US and Israel as well as CUNY's response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.^[2][21][23] An organization called SAFE CUNY criticized CUNY Law for allowing Kiswani's commencement speech, alleging that CUNY was unsafe for Jewish people.^[26] CUNY Law later removed the recording of Kiswani's speech from their website and stopped allowing the student body to elect commencement speakers.^[27][28][13]

Kiswani has stated that she was subject to harassment and death threats due to her pro-Palestine activism since she enrolled at CUNY School of Law.^[1][21][20] She said that she received e-mails and phone calls from people who accused her of antisemitism.^[29] The CUNY Law administration received a very high volume of e-mails calling for her to be disciplined.^[29][20][30] The e-mails appeared to have largely been organized via Act.IL, a now defunct app that rewarded users for completing online tasks combatting what it considered antisemitism.^[29][12][5] Act.IL was created by former Israeli intelligence officers and, according to Mondoweiss, was partially funded by the Israeli government.^[29][12] Several organizations including Palestine Legal and the school's Jewish Law Students Association expressed their support for Kiswani.^[29][21][20] Ultimately, CUNY School of Law found that Kiswani had not violated any rules^[30] and released a statement in support of her free speech.^[5][31][12]

In 2018, NYC Students for Justice in Palestine was renamed Within Our Lifetime (WOL).^[2][12] WOL organizes pro-Palestine marches,^[25][32] including an annual Nakba Day march in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn,^[33][34] and Gaza war protests that have shut down New York City traffic and transportation.^[2][35][36] The group's protest slogans include: "Globalize the intifada".^[37][38] Kiswani typically speaks at WOL protests and has been arrested multiple times.^[2][27] She has led numerous protests including demonstrations against the detention of Mahmoud Khalil.^[39][40] She also organized a protest at the 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting in response to the cancellation of Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, Palestine.^[35][41] Kiswani has been credited with influencing Gaza War protests in the US, including student protests.^[2]

Kiswani was arrested while protesting outside Columbia University in February 2024.^[27] The following month, Kiswani criticized the Israeli–Palestinian peace process and endorsed armed resistance against Israel at an event organized for Columbia University students.^[42] After her wedding in April, Kiswani visited the Columbia University student encampment in her wedding thobe to offer her support.^[43][2][44] She later spoke at the opening night for Hind’s House, an art exhibit commemorating the encampment.^[45][46] Columbia University has banned her from entering their campus.^[45]

At a June 2024 protest outside a Nova music festival massacre exhibit, Kiswani gave a speech in which she referred to Nova as "the place where Zionists decided to rave next to a concentration camp" and called the exhibit "Zionist propaganda to try and justify the mass murder of the Palestinian people." Additionally, she condemned the Nuseirat rescue and massacre which had taken place a week prior.^[2][47][48] The protest was criticized as antisemitic by government officials, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.^[2][49] In response to criticism of a WOL member for telling Zionists to leave a subway car, Kiswani tweeted that her group does not want Zionists "in Palestine, NYC, our schools, on the train, ANYWHERE."^[2]

Kiswani is part of a CAIR lawsuit against the NYPD for their conduct during Gaza war protests in October 2023.^[50] After the 2024 Nakba Day protests, Kiswani accused the New York City Police Department (NYPD) of police brutality, including assaults, property damage, and instigating conflict.^[33][51][52] After a June 2024 protest at the Brooklyn Museum, Hyperallergic and Democracy Now! reported that the NYPD tackled Kiswani and removed her hijab.^[53][54][55] Additionally, Kiswani criticized the NYPD's response to the 2025 pro-Israel mob attack in Brooklyn, stating that they contributed to it instead of stopping it.^[56]

On March 26, 2026, a suspected male Jewish extremist was arrested in Hoboken, New Jersey by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department, after being accused of plotting a Molotov cocktail attack against Kiswani's Staten Island home.^[57] According to an official of the NYPD, the suspect is a member of a Jewish extremist group called the JDL 613 Brotherhood, a New Jersey-based group founded in 2024, inspired by the Jewish Defense League (a pro-Israel group designated by the F.B.I. as a terrorist organization)^[58], with the goal of "fighting back against rising antisemitism" and describing its members as "Jewish warriors".^[59] A police department spokesperson stated that the suspect had discussed the plot in a group chat with an undercover NYPD detective in February 2026,^[60][61] and a criminal complaint further alleges that the suspect discussed a plan with the undercover officer to vandalize Kiswani's home and escape the US by the end of April.^[61] Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani stated that the suspect planned to flee to Israel following the attack.^[62] The suspect was later charged for making and possessing destructive devices, which each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.^[59]