Brad Lander detained during West Bank olive harvest

Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for a New York congressional seat, said Israeli forces detained him Wednesday while he helped Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank. About 80 American and Israeli rabbis and activists were detained with him, according to NPR.

“We’ve been detained by the Israeli military for harvesting olives, and let’s be clear: Occupation is a crime under international law,” Lander said in a video filmed on a bus taking the group to a police station. “Harvesting olives is not a crime under any law.”

The group had joined Palestinian families at an olive grove near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit. Participants included American rabbis from T’ruah, members of the Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights and other activists. They hoped their presence would help the farmers harvest in peace, NPR reported.

After roughly two hours, drones began circling overhead and Israeli security forces arrived, declared the area a closed military zone and took the American and Israeli activists to a police station for questioning, according to NPR. It was not immediately clear what, if anything, Israeli authorities accused them of. Israel’s military and police did not immediately comment to NPR; the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to NBC News.

Two Israeli lawyers who work on such cases told NPR it was the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade. Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a longtime Israeli human rights advocate, called the detentions “unprecedented.”

Lander, a former New York City comptroller, had said he was visiting the West Bank with the Protect the Harvest coalition. In a post Monday, he said the trip aimed “to help protect the olive harvest — and to shed a light on the reality of the occupation.” He described the coalition as bringing people from around the world to help Palestinian farmers harvest amid what he called “state-sanctioned settler terrorism.”

Olive harvesting carries cultural and economic importance for Palestinians. Several Palestinians in the West Bank told NPR they had been unable to harvest their trees since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, saying rising settler attacks had made it too dangerous.

Wednesday’s detentions followed two high-profile settler attacks the previous week, NBC News reported. Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was injured in one, while another targeted European diplomats. Israeli police said earlier this week that they had arrested 10 people suspected of participating in violence against Palestinians and others. A United Nations report issued in July said more than 900 Palestinians had been injured in settler attacks since the start of the year; it also said 76 Palestinians in the West Bank had been killed by Israeli forces or settlers, or had died from their injuries, in that period.

Lander defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in the Democratic primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District. Their views on Israel dominated the contest, NBC News reported. Both men are Jewish; Lander has been more critical of Israel’s government and the war in Gaza, which he has called a “genocide.”