Nerdeen Kiswani

Nerdeen Kiswani (; born 1993 or 1994) is a Palestinian-American activist and organizer. She is a co-founder and chair of Within Our Lifetime, a pro-Palestine activist group in New York City. During the Gaza War, Kiswani has led or spoken at numerous protests in New York City, including the Columbia University student encampment and protests against the detention of Mahmoud Khalil. Considered an influential activist, she has been credited with inspiring Gaza War protests in the US, including student protests. As a student at the City University of New York (CUNY), she was also involved in pro-Palestine activism as president of the school's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.

Early life Kiswani's family are refugees from the Palestinian town of Beit Iksa. Some of her family still lives in the West Bank. Kiswani was born in Jordan around 1994 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. She has credited her desire to return to Palestine as a motivation for her activism. 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. 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. Kiswani completed her undergraduate degree at CUNY in June 2016. 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. Kiswani also played a key role in organizing a BDS resolution, The chancellor of CUNY released a statement that opposed the resolution and cited anti-BDS rules in New York State. An organization called SAFE CUNY criticized CUNY Law for allowing Kiswani's commencement speech, alleging that CUNY was unsafe for Jewish people. CUNY Law later removed the recording of Kiswani's speech from their website and stopped allowing the student body to elect commencement speakers. The CUNY Law administration received a very high volume of e-mails calling for her to be disciplined. 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. including an annual Nakba Day march in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Gaza war protests that have shut down New York City traffic and transportation. The group's protest slogans include: "Globalize the intifada". Kiswani typically speaks at WOL protests and has been arrested multiple times. She also organized a protest at the 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting in response to the cancellation of Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, Palestine. Kiswani has been credited with influencing Gaza War protests in the US, including student protests. After her wedding in April, Kiswani visited the Columbia University student encampment in her wedding thobe to offer her support. She later spoke at the opening night for Hind’s House, an art exhibit commemorating the encampment. Columbia University has banned her from entering their campus.

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. The protest was criticized as antisemitic by government officials, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 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." 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. After a June 2024 protest at the Brooklyn Museum, Hyperallergic and Democracy Now! reported that the NYPD tackled Kiswani and removed her hijab. 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.

2026 bomb plot against Kiswani

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. 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 FBI as a terrorist organization) , with the goal of "fighting back against rising antisemitism" and describing its members as "Jewish warriors". A police department spokesperson stated that the suspect had discussed the plot in a group chat with an undercover NYPD detective in February 2026, 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. The suspect was later charged for making and possessing destructive devices, which each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. and Palestinians should be able to exercise their right of return. She has also condemned Donald Trump's February 2025 Gaza Strip proposal.

According to Algemeiner Journal, Kiswani believes that Ukraine is a "Western-backed project propped up for geopolitical interests & sustained by empire" and that Ukraine and Palestine "are not the same struggle."

Reception Kiswani is credited with playing a role in motivating Gaza war protests in the United States, including at university campuses. while NBC News has called her "emblematic" of the grassroots pro-Palestine movement in the US.

Pro-Israel organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, Canary Mission, and StopAntisemitism have accused Kiswani of antisemitism. Kiswani has stated she is anti-Zionist, not antisemitic.

In January 2025, the far-right Zionist group Betar tweeted that it would award $1800 to anyone who handed a pager to Kiswani—a reference to the 2024 Lebanon electronic device attacks that has been widely understood as a veiled death threat or incitement.