Brad Lander, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Congress, was detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank on Wednesday while harvesting olives alongside Palestinian farmers, rights groups said.
Lander was released with a warning, which he said appeared to be due to his public profile. Dozens of rabbis and other volunteers in his group were held for several hours longer.
“The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know,” Lander wrote on X.
The incident took place in Nahalin, a village south of Bethlehem, where around 80 volunteers were accompanying Palestinian farmers during the harvest, according to Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights and North American Jewish organisation T’ruah.
The volunteers, who included Americans, Israelis and, according to one organiser, British and Canadian citizens, were taking part in what is known as protective presence, accompanying farmers who often face violence from Israeli settlers.
The two groups said Israeli military and police forces arrived about two hours after the harvest began and told participants they were in a closed military zone. Rabbis for Human Rights Acting Director Anton Goodman told Reuters the volunteers had not known this and offered to leave, but were detained.
Lander said he was held for about three hours, while others were detained for around nine. Israeli police later said 72 people had been released, some on condition that they stay away from the harvest area, and that four foreign nationals would face a hearing on Thursday on possible deportation.
Israel’s military said harvesting in the area, near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, required prior coordination that had not taken place, and that the “uncoordinated harvest” posed a security risk. Police said one foreign national was released once it became known he was a congressional candidate.
However, a map distributed to Palestinian farmers by Israel’s Civil Administration showed that the area did not require prior coordination, The Times of Israel reported. The military later said the area was not marked on the map because Palestinians had never previously asked to harvest there.
Israel’s foreign ministry accused Lander of “looking for a confrontation”, saying: “This was not about harvesting olives. It was about harvesting headlines.”
Lander said the Israeli embassy in Washington had recommended coordination but had not said it was required, adding that he had harvested olives in the area on the previous two days without incident.
“We did not present a security risk to anyone. We did nothing more provocative than harvest olives,” he said.
T’ruah Chief Executive Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who was among those detained, said the volunteers had been picking olives “very peacefully” before the forces arrived.
Lander, who is Jewish, is a former New York City comptroller running for New York’s 10th Congressional District in the 3 November midterm elections. He is an ally of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a critic of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war.
Mamdani wrote on X: “Harvesting olives is not illegal. The occupation is.” He accused Israel of genocide, an accusation Israel denies, and called for the release of the other New Yorkers.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said it was aware of reports that U.S. citizens had been detained.
The annual olive harvest is a cultural tradition and an important source of income for Palestinians, but it is often targeted by Israeli settlers. Settler attacks in the West Bank over the weekend prompted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to crack down on the violence.
“The story here is how hard the Israeli government works to make it impossible for Palestinian farmers to harvest their olive groves and drive on their roads and live in their homes and stay on their land,” Lander told reporters from Beit Jala in the West Bank.
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