Israel’s Foreign Ministry mocked a lefty congressional nominee after he claimed he’d been “detained” by the Israeli Defense Forces on Wednesday for working on an olive harvest in the West Bank.
Brad Lander, the former Big Apple comptroller now running for Congress, had filmed himself onboard a bus claiming to have been held by the IDF along with a group of rabbis and volunteers.
“This was not about harvesting olives,” the foreign ministry said in an X post. “It was about harvesting headlines. Brad Lander’s latest stunt is nothing more than a calculated political provocation.”
The Democratic nominee and Mamdani ally has accused the Jewish state of committing a genocide in the Gaza strip and made Israel a top focus of the race.
The official Israeli government account even said that his team was informed about proper procedures but neglected to coordinate with the authorities.
“Lander traveled to a foreign country, deliberately entered a restricted security area, and participated in an unauthorized activity without the required coordination,” it posted on social media.
“Brad Lander came looking for a confrontation. Now he is pretending to be its victim.”
Lander upset Rep. Dan Goldman in the June Democratic Party and is heavily favored to win the left-leaning district that covers lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn.
A spokesperson for Lander did not immediately respond to a request for comment.