BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York's 10th Congressional District and a close ally of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, says he was detained by the Israeli military on Wednesday while harvesting olives with Rabbis for Human Rights volunteers in the occupied West Bank.
Lander, a Jewish American and former New York City comptroller, posted on X that he was detained along with rabbis and volunteers near Bethlehem. He included a photo of himself on a bus showing what appeared to be a police officer and a masked soldier. He has since been released with a warning, according to The Washington Times, which reported his release in a post on X.
Rabbis for Human Rights said around 80 volunteers, including Lander, were detained by Israeli military and police on village farmland where for about two hours they had been accompanying Palestinian farmers. Israeli forces informed the group they were in a closed military zone and detained them before taking them to a police station.
Anton Goodman, acting director of Rabbis for Human Rights, told Reuters that Lander had been released but that everyone else was being held at a police station in an Israeli settlement. Those who were not Israeli or Palestinian citizens were expected to be later taken to an Israeli military base.
According to T'ruah, a Jewish North American rights group, the volunteers — including U.S. and Israeli citizens — were accompanying local Palestinian farmers who face the threat of violence from Israeli settlers, as an act of solidarity.
Olives are the backbone of Palestinian agriculture, a sector that accounts for around 8% of GDP and more than 60,000 jobs, according to the Palestinian Authority's agriculture ministry.
It was not immediately clear why the area had been declared a closed military zone. Rabbis for Human Rights said the group could not have known before arriving and volunteered to comply with the order.
Lander is the Democratic Party's nominee for New York's 10th congressional district in the November 3 midterm elections. He has been critical of Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza and is an ally of Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City.
The detention drew immediate reaction online. The Washington Times posted on X: "New York congressional candidate Brad Lander said he was detained by the Israel Defense Forces while visiting the West Bank and has since been released with a 'warning.'"
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the specifics of the detention. The incident highlights the ongoing tensions in the West Bank, where Jewish settlers and Palestinian farmers frequently clash during the annual olive harvest season.
Lander's campaign did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Our Take
Here's the thing patriots: Brad Lander is a far-left politician backed by Zohran Mamdani, the socialist mayor of New York City. Lander has been a vocal critic of Israel's military operations in Gaza. Now he's out in the West Bank picking olives with anti-settlement activists, and he gets detained by the IDF for entering a closed military zone. Does anyone seriously believe this wasn't a staged photo op designed to generate exactly this headline?
The man is running for Congress in a district that includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Instead of focusing on the issues that matter to his constituents — crime, the economy, education — he's thousands of miles away inserting himself into a conflict that isn't his to solve. And who is he doing it with? Rabbis for Human Rights, a group that has been openly critical of Israeli military policy.
But here's what the legacy media won't tell you: Lander and his allies are part of a growing faction in the Democrat Party that has turned its back on our strongest ally in the Middle East. They cozy up to the Mamdani wing of the party, which has made no secret of its hostility toward Israel. And now Lander wants to bring that same radical agenda to Congress.
The voters of New York's 10th District deserve a representative who will stand with Israel, not one who gets detained by its military while protesting alongside anti-settlement activists. On November 3, they'll have a choice. Let's hope they make the right one.
