Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee in New York's 10th Congressional District, was detained by Israeli forces Wednesday in the occupied West Bank while helping Palestinian farmers pick olives. He was released later in the day.
The former New York City comptroller was one of dozens of rabbis, activists and volunteers taken into custody near the village of Nahalin, outside Bethlehem. NPR put the number at about 80, while Reuters reported about 90. The group included both foreign nationals and Israeli citizens.
Anton Goodman, acting director of Rabbis for Human Rights, told Gothamist the volunteers had been in the grove for about an hour and a half when a large group of soldiers and police arrived. They were told the area had been declared a closed military zone that morning. The grove sits a few hundred meters from an Israeli settlement.
Lander posted a photo of himself from a bus as he was being taken away. "Harvesting olives isn't a crime under any law I know," he wrote on X, according to CBS New York. He later said he had been let go with a warning because of his public profile, and that several dozen others were still being held.
Lander arrived in the region over the weekend with the "Protect the Harvest" coalition. His team said his schedule also included visits to communities in the South Hebron Hills.
He is not the first American politician to face this. Rep. Ro Khanna of California was briefly detained by Israeli forces during a West Bank trip in July, NPR noted.
Lander has been a sharp critic of Israel's war in Gaza and has called for an end to U.S. military aid. The district he is running in is a Democratic stronghold, NBC News noted. The general election is Nov. 3.
Neither the Israel Defense Forces nor the State Department responded immediately to requests for comment.