Democratic nominee for Congress and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was detained by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank Wednesday morning.
“I’ve been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis & volunteers. We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim in the West Bank,” Lander posted on X with a picture from a bus showing Israeli soldiers standing at the front. “The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.”
Lander was among 90 volunteers with Rabbis for Human Rights who were detained near Nahalin, a village close to Bethlehem, while helping Palestinian farmers harvest olives. The group told The Jerusalem Post that the farmers weren’t able to access their groves for three years.
According to the Post, Israeli troops arrived two hours after work had started and declared the area a closed military zone. The volunteers agreed to leave the area, but were still detained. The group was mixed between foreign activists and Israeli citizens.
Lander posted a video about his trip before he was detained, saying, “Our goals for the trip are to help protect the olive harvest—and to shed a light on the reality of the occupation. To ensure that international solidarity goes beyond the harvest, to become a sustained commitment to protecting Palestinian communities from settler violence, forced displacement, and the ongoing threats to their right to remain on their land.”
I'm in the West Bank this week as part of the “Protect the Harvest” coalition along with @israelispeaceny, @ucpinpalestine & Protect the Harvest, which is bringing people together from around the world to help Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the face of state-sanctioned settler terrorism. Our goals for the trip are to help protect the olive harvest — and to shed a light on the reality of the occupation. To ensure that international solidarity goes beyond the harvest, to become a sustained commitment to protecting Palestinian communities from settler violence, forced displacement, and the ongoing threats to their right to remain on their land. And, speedily and in our day, to secure human rights, safety, equality & freedom for both Palestinians and Israelis. Thankfully, our corner of today's harvest was peaceful and successful. But violence unfortunately is never far away. We’ll keep you posted on our efforts this week, especially the stories we hear from Palestinians on the ground. Protect the Harvest.
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) October 19, 2026
Lander’s detention comes after Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine was beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers at an olive tree grove in the West Bank last week. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee issued a rare condemnation of the attack, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the facts of the “alleged” attack are still under investigation. They have yet to comment on Lander’s detention by Israeli forces.