While harvesting olives in the West Bank, New York 10th congressional district candidate Brad Lander was briefly detained by the Israel Defense Forces.
Lander is Jewish and has said he is a “liberal Zionist” and a believer “in the vision of a Jewish and democratic Israel.” He described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide and said that Jews won’t feel safe “until Palestinians are free.”
Lander participated in Protect the Harvest, an international coalition that sends volunteers to the West Bank to help Palestinian farmers harvest olives amid settler violence.
Lander said that he and the group of volunteers were harvesting on Oct. 19 and 20. However, on their third day of harvesting, they were stopped by the IDF.
Lander and over 40 international volunteers, which included Americans and 28 Israelis, were detained. The international volunteers were taken to the Etzion military base in the West Bank while the Israeli volunteers were taken to the Beitar Illit police station.
Israeli authorities informed him that their actions were illegal and that the group was “causing a disturbance of public order.”
“Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know,” Lander said in a post on X.
“Harvesting in this area requires a request to be submitted to the relevant authorities in advance of the start of the olive harvest season. This coordination is necessary to ensure the security of the area and maintain public order,” the IDF said in another post on X.
After being detained for a few hours, Lander was released. Lander later said that he had been released with a “‘warning,’ apparently because of [his] public profile.”
Lander told NBC News that Israeli authorities called him a “congressman,” even though he tried to explain to the authorities that he was not a member of Congress.
Lander and most of the detained volunteers were released by the same afternoon, Israeli authorities said in a statement.
Beck Strober, a spokesperson for Protect the Harvest, said that “Israeli members of the group will not be allowed to return to the West Bank for 28 days,” according to NBC.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the incident of being a “stunt.” The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on X that Brad Lander was aware that they were headed to a restricted security area and that they needed the required coordination to participate in the unauthorized activity.
