Brad Lander says Israeli forces detained and then released him during an olive harvest in the West Bank

Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller, said Wednesday that Israeli forces had released him after detaining him during an olive harvest near Nahalin, a West Bank village south of Bethlehem, Reuters and Al Jazeera reported. “I’ve been released from IDF custody with a ‘warning,’ apparently because of my public profile,” he wrote on X, according to Al Jazeera. “I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee.”¹²

NPR reported that about 80 rabbis and activists were detained and that several dozen were still held as of an update posted that morning. Reuters, citing Rabbis for Human Rights and T’ruah, reported that about 80 volunteers took part; citing T’ruah’s chief executive, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, it reported more than 30 U.S. citizens among those detained.³¹

What Lander said

While held, Lander wrote on X: “The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know,” according to CBS New York and Reuters.⁴¹ After his release, he wrote that the detentions were “one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves,” Al Jazeera and The Times of Israel reported.²⁵

What Israeli authorities said

The Israeli military said farmers there must submit harvest requests before the season so authorities can coordinate “security of the area and maintain public order,” NPR reported. It said the Palestinians had not filed one, so soldiers and police arrived and detained those present. Of Lander, it said, “we note that he was released once the matter was brought to our attention.”³ CBS New York quoted the statement as citing “the security risk posed by conducting an uncoordinated harvest near an Israeli community.”⁴ The Jerusalem Post quoted the military as saying the landowner “was informed that he must coordinate the olive harvest on his plot of land.”⁶

Israel Police said the group had entered an area near the Beitar Illit settlement fence that needed approval to enter, and that officers released Lander immediately upon learning he was a congressional candidate, The Times of Israel reported. Police said they were reviewing the episode with the military and other agencies.⁵

The Times of Israel reported that a map the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration gave Palestinian farmers does not mark the area as requiring prior coordination. The military responded that it was not marked because Palestinians had never asked to harvest there, the paper reported.⁵

What the organizers and the U.S. Embassy said

Anton Goodman, acting director of Rabbis for Human Rights, said the closure order was issued only that morning and that volunteers offered to leave but were told they could not because they were disturbing public order, Reuters reported.¹

A U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Jerusalem said the embassy was aware of reports that U.S. citizens had been detained and was monitoring the situation, Reuters reported. “The Trump administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans,” the spokesperson said.¹

The race

Lander is the Democratic nominee in New York’s 10th District. The candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot, alphabetically, are Brad Lander, on the Democratic and Working Families lines, and Jennifer E. Moore, on the Republican and Conservative lines, according to the New York City Board of Elections.⁷

What the records do not show

• SignalData did not open a primary statement from the Israeli military, Israel Police, the U.S. Embassy or the State Department; their positions are as reported by NPR, CBS New York, The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel and Reuters.³⁴⁶⁵¹
• Lander’s posts on X are quoted as reported; SignalData could not open them.²⁴⁵¹
• Counts differ: NPR reported about 80 detained; The Jerusalem Post reported about 90.³⁶
• No report gives Lander’s release time, says whether anyone was charged or reports the others released.³⁵¹²
• The city board marks its Sept. 11 list tentative; SignalData could not open the state board’s certified list.⁷