Photo: The Creative Commons
(New York, New York) – A prominent Palestinian activist is drawing backlash after posting that dogs should not be kept as indoor pets in New York City, calling the practice “un-Islamic” before later claiming she was joking.
Nerdeen Kiswani wrote on X that dogs have a “place in society” but “not as indoor pets,” adding, “Like we’ve said all along, they are unclean.”
The post sparked criticism online. Kiswani later said it was satire.
“It’s obviously a joke I don’t care if you have a dog, I do care if your dog is s***ting everywhere and you’re not cleaning it,” she wrote, adding that she was referencing complaints about dog waste in snow-covered city streets.
Kiswani is known for organizing pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New York through her group Within Our Lifetime (WOL), which advocates for what it calls the “full liberation of Palestine.” She has previously faced controversy over past statements related to Israel and the October 7 attacks.
Views within Islam vary on dogs. While many scholars permit them for work such as herding or hunting, some consider them ritually impure and avoid keeping them as indoor pets.
