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Nerdeen Kiswani
Nerdeen Kiswani (Arabic: نردين كسواني[1]) is a Palestinian-American activist and organizer.[1][2][3][4] She is a co-founder and chair of Within Our Lifetime, a pro-Palestinian activist group in New York City.[5] Early lifeNerdeen Kiswani is the child of Palestinian refugees from Beit Iksa,[3] Jerusalem and was raised in Brooklyn.[6] She has stated that growing up in a post-9/11 United States in which Muslims "were used to being called terrorists at school" was freeing in that her generation is no longer affected by that kind of propaganda.[3] Student activismAs a student at the School of Law of the City University of New York (CUNY), Kiswani helped pass two resolutions in favor of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).[1] Along with other students, she was involved in the establishment of NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, representing a coalition from across the various CUNY schools.[1][3] Kiswani has studied revolutionary movements and stated armed resistance has always been a part of them.[3] She has described her use of the phrase "by any means necessary" as echoing Malcolm X.[3] She was elected to be the graduation speaker for the class of 2022. Her speech was widely shared and discussed. It addressed the Israeli assassination of the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.[3] Harassment and defamationKiswani stated that she was subject to harassment and death threats from Zionists attempting to suppress pro-Palestinian speech since she enrolled at CUNY School of Law.[1] She has faced intense slander, intimidation, and smear campaigns coming from rightwing media, Zionist organizations, city politicians, and Hollywood actors.[7] Palestine Legal reported that Kiswani, as a "vocal and visibly Muslim advocate for Palestinian liberation," was subject to character assassination and vilification campaigns, including cyberbullying.[5] A social media app called Act.IL[8] affiliated with the Israeli government "rewarded hundreds of users if they sent pre-scripted emails to the CUNY administration that falsely claimed Nerdeen had threatened a Zionist 'fellow student' and called for her to be punished."[5] The app gamified Israeli hasbara and Israeli military communications strategy, transforming its advocacy into a "massive multiplayer online game."[8] According to Kiswani, Zionists inundated the school administration with emails claiming she was antisemitic.[6] CUNY School of Law released statements in condemnation of her, which exacerbated the "racist and violent vitriol" to which she was exposed.[5] Zionist organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League,[9] Canary Mission,[10] and StopAntisemitism[11] have targeted her and claimed she is antisemitic.[3] Kiswani has stated that she is not antisemitic.[3] In June 2021, in response to student pressure, the school's administration released a statement supporting her.[5] She was ultimately absolved of any wrongdoing.[12] The day after Kiswani spoke at a protest outside a Nova Music Festival commemorative exhibition in June 2024, Democrat U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the protest as "atrocious antisemitism-plain and simple".[3] According to Kiswani, “the Nova Music Festival was a rave next to a concentration camp,” and “the exhibit at 35 Wall Street in NYC is propaganda used to justify the genocide in Palestine.”[13] Within Our LifetimeIn 2015, she co-founded Within Our Lifetime, a pro-Palestinian activist group in New York City.[5][3] The organization has organized marches that have shut down the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and the flow of Midtown motor vehicle traffic.[3] Meta shut down WOL's Instagram account in February 2024 for violating its prohibition against promoting "dangerous organizations or individuals".[3] The group has mourned the assassination of Lebanese cleric and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah and called him and others like him 'martyrs'.[3] Political viewsKiswani does not believe in a two-state solution, stating in 2024 that it has "been dead on arrival for years now."[3] She points to the fact that it's already a one-state reality "that’s controlled by Israel in every sense."[3] Kiswani believes Palestine has a right to defend itself and supports armed resistance, stating that "people need to be able to defend themselves."[3] She wrote on X that her group does not want Zionists "in Palestine, NYC, our schools, on the train, ANYWHERE", after a member shouted for Zionists on a subway train to raise their hand and leave.[3] References
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