U.S. Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander was detained with other left-wing activists by Israeli security forces for unauthorized work at an olive harvest on a tourist visa, allegedly without prior coordination with the proper authorities. He was released later with a warning.

While he and the others were in detention, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called for his immediate release.

“This year’s harvest has been marred by widespread violence against farmers and journalists,” he stated. “Those still detained must immediately be released and the Government of Israel must hold those responsible for violence accountable.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry slammed the anti-Israel candidate from New York for his performative stunt, accusing him of seeking confrontation and now claiming to be the victim.

“This was not about harvesting olives. It was about harvesting headlines,” the ministry said in a statement. “Brad Lander’s latest stunt is nothing more than a calculated political provocation. Lander traveled to a foreign country, deliberately entered a restricted security area, and participated in an unauthorized activity without the required coordination.”

The ministry said that what compounds the outrage is that Lander’s team did initiate contact with Israeli authorities and was explicitly told that coordination was required, but Lander and his team ignored those instructions.

“At a time of heightened security tensions, Israeli security forces have a responsibility to protect lives, prevent dangerous incidents, and maintain public order,” the ministry said, adding that this “reckless” stunt endangered lives.

“Brad Lander came looking for a confrontation. Now he is pretending to be its victim,” the ministry declared.

Lander posted a video statement about the incident in which he declared that occupation is illegal under international law and asserted that he had not done anything illegal.

“Hey guys, so we’re on a bus,” he said. “We’ve been detained by the Israeli military for harvesting olives, and let’s be clear: Occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives is not a crime under any law.”

“But here we are with all these rabbis and Americans, and we’re told the Israelis are on a different bus,” he continued. “Again, we don’t know if we’re being arrested, but at least we’re being detained. We were just in a field harvesting olives. And now Israeli military has been called apparently by settler security.”

“[They] have detained us, put us on bus, and are taking us away for processing. So I will keep you posted as best we can,” he added. “We’ve got good lawyers through Rabbis for Human Rights and HRDF, and we sure didn’t do anything illegal.”

The candidate drew fire for pulling off this stunt during election season, when he should be campaigning on issues that New York voters care about.

“Why is someone running for the United States Congress, was just 2 weeks to go to the elections, 6,000 miles away from their district????” one social media user asked. “Brad Lander and so many others abandon the needs of their constituents in favor of the DSA anti Israel social media mob.”

“There are no countries or war zones where you can show up and start working unauthorized on a tourist visa,” another user posted. “Lander is lying and telling folks he was arrested for harvesting olives.”

“Some of [Lander’s] detractors have accused him of exploiting his Jewish identity and criticism of Israel for political attention, even labeling him a ‘self-hating Jew,'” ILTV reported.

Lander hit back, claiming that the Foreign Ministry lied about telling his team to coordinate with the relevant authorities.

“The Israeli Foreign Ministry is lying,” he posted on X.

“No coordination was required, and we were never told that it was. We were not in a restricted security area. We did not pass any checkpoints,” he added, explaining that the purpose of his visit was to show the world “the horrors of occupation.”

“The Israeli government is trying to foment violence between Jews and Palestinians, and to make it impossible for Palestinians to harvest their olive groves, drive on their roads, or live in their homes,” he said.

After the incident, Lander said that, if elected, he would co-sponsor the Stop the Settlements Act, a ban on trade with the settlements, which would be introduced by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas).