Democrat Brad Lander, a U.S. House nominee from New York City, was detained, along with dozens of rabbis and activists, by the Israel Defense Forces during an olive harvesting trip in the West Bank on Wednesday.

Lander, who was participating in an initiative to protect Palestinian olive growers from settler violence, posted about the detention on X, noting that the group was “simply harvesting olives” near the Palestinian village of Nahalin, just outside of Bethlehem in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.

A few hours later, he updated that he was “released from IDF custody with a ‘warning.’” Lander, a former New York City comptroller, attributed his release to his public profile – stressing, however, that he is “just a nominee” and not a current member of Congress.   

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed that Israeli military and police forces arrived at the scene and detained the participants, saying that “harvesting in that area requires prior coordination with the relevant authorities” in order to maintain security in the area.

While Lander was released relatively quickly, he noted that several dozen people who had been harvesting olives with him remained in detention and called for their immediate release. 

“These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes,” Lander added, describing these actions as “very clearly state-sponsored ethnic cleansing.”

This is a developing story.

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