FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
September 3, 2025

Cotton to FBI: Investigate Palestinian Youth Movement for Inciting Violence Against U.S. Military Assets

Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel urging an investigation into a Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) member for endangering U.S. national security. PYM leader Aisha Nizar openly called for damage to U.S. military support to Israel, including asking supporters to disrupt the U.S. F-35 supply chain.

In part, Senator Cotton wrote:

“Nizar’s statements constitute direct incitement of violence against U.S. national security interests by advocating for actions against the men and women who build the F-35 and seeking to imperil the delivery of one of the nation’s most strategic assets. I urge the Federal Bureau of Investigation to immediately examine Nizar’s actions and take any necessary actions to mitigate the threat.”

Full text of the letter may be found here and below.

September 3, 2025

The Honorable Kashyap Patel
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20535

Dear Director Patel:

I write to bring to your attention the dangerous—and almost certainly illegal—activities of a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and ask that you conduct a full investigation into this threat to U.S. national security.

PYM leader Aisha Nizar spoke at the recent People’s Conference for Palestine in Michigan where she openly called on supporters to disrupt the U.S. F-35 supply chain. This was part of her larger call to damage U.S. military support to Israel in their lawful war against Hamas. Nizar highlighted the complex F-35 supply chain, saying “If one specific node of the F-35 supply chain is intervened in, it has a huge impact.” She continued, “We need to be surgical. We need to be strategic…Because there are many different points of these supply chains of death that we can intervene in and we must intervene in.”

I have previously raised concerns about the PYM and their antisemitic activities, along with their likely illegal receipt of tax exempt donations. PYM is populated with bad actors, like Nizar who was arrested and charged for her role in the 2024 Gaza war protests that trapped motorists on the Golden Gate Bridge. She has now taken her anti-American and anti-semitic bigotry a step further and is directly endangering U.S. national security.

Nizar’s statements constitute direct incitement of violence against U.S. national security interests by advocating for actions against the men and women who build the F-35 and seeking to imperil the delivery of one of the nation’s most strategic assets. I urge the Federal Bureau of Investigation to immediately examine Nizar’s actions and take any necessary actions to mitigate the threat. The U.S. defense supply chain is a key to our military’s ability to fight and win wars. We must protect that supply chain from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Sincerely,

Tom Cotton
United States Senator

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