US congressional candidate Brad Lander freed after West Bank detention

Olive Groves and Military Zones in the West Bank

United States Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander was released from Israeli military custody with a warning on Wednesday after being detained alongside roughly 80 volunteers in the occupied West Bank. Lander, a former New York City comptroller, had travelled to the region as part of the Protect the Harvest coalition. The delegation, which included American, Israeli, Palestinian, British, and Canadian activists alongside numerous rabbis from organizations such as Rabbis for Human Rights and T'ruah, had gathered near the village of Nahalin outside Bethlehem to assist Palestinian farmers in harvesting their olive groves close to the settlement of Beitar Illit.

The morning began peacefully as volunteers moved plot by plot through ancient terraced fields, bagging olives for villagers who local organizers said had been unable to access their land for three years due to safety fears and rising settler attacks following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. After roughly two hours of work, drones began circling overhead, and Israeli soldiers and police officers arrived to declare the area a closed military zone. According to Rabbis for Human Rights acting director Anton Goodman, who was detained alongside Lander, the volunteers immediately agreed to leave the area, but security forces nonetheless proceeded to detain them, loading the group onto a bus to be taken to a police station.

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. The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn't a crime under any law I know.

Brad Lander, Democratic congressional nominee, via X

The incident marks what two Israeli lawyers working on such cases told NPR is the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade, with longtime human rights proponent Rabbi Arik Ascherman describing the actions as unprecedented. Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, noted on X that she was in touch with friends among 33 American citizens being held as of Wednesday morning. While Lander was freed shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday — attributing his release to his public profile after being handed a warning — several dozen other participants, including international volunteers and rabbis, remained in detention, prompting Lander to call for their immediate release.

Mounting Tensions and Divergent Claims

The mass detentions follow a volatile stretch during the seasonal olive harvest, which carries profound cultural and economic significance for Palestinians. Just last week, The Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was assaulted and robbed by Israeli settlers at an olive tree grove in the West Bank, an attack that drew a rare condemnation from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the facts of the alleged assault remained under investigation. Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California was also briefly detained by Israeli forces during a trip to the West Bank in July.

The motivations and justifications behind Wednesday's operation brought sharply contrasting accounts from human rights advocates and participating politicians. Activists argued that the military's actions actively subverted the safety of local farmers. T'ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs issued a statement condemning the operation:

Let us be clear about what happened here: Rather than protecting Palestinian farmers and ensuring their right to work their own land, the Israeli military forcibly removed those who came to provide a protective presence. This is an outrageous abuse of power, and part of a systematic, state-backed campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at driving Palestinians from their land.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T'ruah, via statement

Israeli authorities have rejected accusations of ethnic cleansing. Neither the Israeli military, the Israel Defense Forces, nor the U.S. State Department immediately responded to requests for comment regarding the detentions, leaving the exact legal pretexts for the arrests unspecified beyond the declaration of a closed military zone.

The Wider Fallout for International Solidarity

The episode highlights the escalating friction between foreign and domestic political figures attempting to document or counter conditions in the West Bank and the enforcement methods employed by Israeli security forces. The delegation's stated aims, protecting the annual harvest, drawing attention to the realities of the occupation, and countering state-sanctioned settler terrorism, clash directly with military closures and the expanding footprint of settlements in the territory. For Lander, the detention cements a high-profile alignment with international and rabbinical activist networks operating on the ground.

• Brad Lander, U.S. Democratic congressional nominee and former New York City comptroller
• Anton Goodman, acting director of Rabbis for Human Rights
• Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of the rabbinical human rights group T'ruah
• Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs
• Roughly 80 American, Israeli, Palestinian, British, and Canadian volunteers and rabbis

With dozens of volunteers still held at police stations following Wednesday morning's sweep near Nahalin, the immediate focus remains on securing their release. The broader question of how civilian authorities and foreign governments will respond to the largest mass detention of activists in the area in ten years remains wide open as diplomatic channels stall.

That leaves the detained activists relying on external advocacy while Israeli authorities have yet to provide a detailed accounting of the charges against them.