US congressional nominee Brad Lander detained during West Bank olive harvest, released hours later

Brad Lander, a Democratic congressional nominee for New York's 10th District, was detained by Israeli forces on Wednesday while accompanying Palestinian farmers during an olive harvest in the occupied West Bank. He said he was released several hours later with a warning, while several dozen other participants remained in custody.

Lander documented the detention in videos posted to social media and said he believed his public profile may have played a role in his release. He added that Palestinians face far worse consequences every day and accused Israeli authorities of attempting to prevent Palestinians from harvesting their crops.

“It was not about harvesting olives. It was about harvesting headlines.”

New Jewish Narrative, a progressive Jewish organization, said at least 33 American citizens were detained on Wednesday, including Lander and Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T'ruah. The volunteers were helping farmers harvest olives near the village of Nahalin, outside Bethlehem, in groves they had been unable to access for three years.

According to the organization, Israeli forces declared the area a closed military zone after about two hours of peaceful harvesting and detained the volunteers. The group's president and CEO, Hadar Susskind, said harvesting olives is not a security threat and accompanying farmers is not a crime.

The Israeli military said the farmers and volunteers had not requested prior authorization for the harvest and were detained because of the security risk posed by an uncoordinated harvest near an Israeli locality. It later described the arrival of dozens of activists as an act intended only to provoke.

Israel's Foreign Ministry called the incident a political stunt, saying Lander had ignored coordination instructions and was harvesting headlines rather than olives. Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly demanded the release of other New Yorkers who remained in custody.