US Congressional Nominee Brad Lander Detained at West Bank Olive Harvest, Later Released

Israeli forces detained Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for a New York seat in the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday while he helped Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank. Lander was later released with a warning. Police later said 72 people from the group had been released and four foreign nationals were still in custody ahead of a deportation hearing on Thursday.

The detention took place near Nahalin, south of Bethlehem. About 80 volunteers from the United States, Israel and Britain had joined Palestinian farmers in a grove under an effort called Protect the Harvest, according to Rabbis for Human Rights. Among those held were several rabbis and Joshua Schoffman, who served for more than a decade as Israel's deputy attorney general, NPR reported. Two Israeli lawyers called it the largest mass detention of activists in the West Bank in at least a decade.

Two hours of picking, then buses to a police station

Organizers said the group had been invited by a Palestinian family and picked olives on private land for about two hours without incident. Drones circled before soldiers and police arrived, NPR reported. The forces said the grove was a closed military zone. Volunteers were separated by nationality and taken by bus to a nearby police station for questioning.

Lander posted about the detention on X from the bus. "I've been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis and volunteers," he wrote. "We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nahalin in the West Bank. The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn't a crime under any law I know."

Lander, a Jewish American and a former New York City comptroller, is the Democratic nominee for New York's 10th Congressional District in the November 3 midterm elections and an ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He has criticized Israel's war in Gaza. Police said a foreign national was released once it became known that he was a congressional candidate.

What each side says

The Israeli military said harvesting in that area requires farmers to ask in advance so that security and public order can be coordinated, and that no such request had been made in this case, Reuters reported. Police said gathering olives near the fence of an Israeli settlement was prohibited. Israel's Foreign Ministry accused Lander of seeking a confrontation, according to Reuters reporting summarized on Wednesday night.

Organizers gave a different account. Schoffman said everyone complied when the group was told to stop and that there had been no friction with settlers or with the security forces. A Palestinian family taking part in the harvest was also detained, according to the rabbinical group T'ruah.

A harvest that draws volunteers every year

The annual olive harvest is a main source of income for many Palestinian families, and volunteers join it each year to accompany farmers. This season it has again been marked by attacks on farmers and on the people with them. On Monday, Israel announced arrests after a Washington Post photographer and a French mayor were beaten while covering the harvest in other West Bank villages.

The four foreign nationals still in custody face a deportation hearing on Thursday. Detention for questioning is not a criminal charge, and no charges were announced on Wednesday.