West Bankupdated 50m ago3 min read
IDF Detains Democratic Candidate Brad Lander During Olive Harvest Near Nehalim
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Democratic candidate Brad Lander detained by IDF during West Bank olive harvest near Bethlehem. About 90 volunteers, including Lander, detained alongside Palestinian olive pickers.
6 outlets told this the same way.
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Detained During Olive Harvest
Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York's 10th Congressional District and former New York City comptroller, said he was detained by the Israel Defense Forces while participating in an olive harvest in the West Bank near Nehalim.
“‘I've been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis & volunteers.”
Lander wrote, "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."
Rabbis for Human Rights said Lander was among roughly 90 volunteers and activists detained Wednesday while accompanying Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest near the village of Nahalin, outside Bethlehem.
Rabbis for Human Rights said Israeli army, police and Border Police forces arrived and presented a military order designating the area a closed military zone for 24 hours, and the group said it agreed to comply and leave the area but authorities held those present for identification and photographing passports and identification cards before transporting them to a police station.
Rabbis for Human Rights Says
Rabbis for Human Rights said the volunteers had been helping farmers harvest olives on land they had been unable to access since Oct. 7, and the group said the harvesting had been going on for about two hours when the IDF arrived.
Acting Executive Director Anton Goodman said, "We came to accompany farmers to land they have not been able to reach in three years, and after two hours of quiet harvesting large forces arrived and closed the area."
Goodman added, "Instead of protecting people working their own land, the army is removing them from it, and detaining those who came to stand beside them."
The Jerusalem Post said some 90 volunteers with Rabbis for Human Rights were detained by the IDF in the West Bank on Wednesday, including congressional nominee Brad Lander and former deputy attorney-general Yehoshua Schoffman, and it said activists were split between foreign nationals and Israeli citizens before being transported to a police station for processing.
What Happens Next
The IDF arrived two hours after the volunteers had begun working and declared the field a closed military zone, and activists told The Jerusalem Post they complied with the military orders and agreed to leave the area but were still detained by the military.
Lander wrote that his trip’s goals were to help Palestinian farmers harvest olives, document conditions in the West Bank and support efforts to protect Palestinian communities from violence and displacement, and he said the coalition sought "to secure human rights, safety, equality & freedom for both Palestinians and Israelis."
Rabbis for Human Rights said foreign nationals were separated from Israeli volunteers, and it said the organization’s representatives agreed to comply and leave the area but authorities nonetheless held those present for identification, photographing passports and identification cards before transporting them to a police station.
Ynetglobal said Lander was subsequently released with a warning, while it also said there was no immediate comment from Israel Police or the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and that the circumstances surrounding the detentions were not immediately clear, including the grounds on which Israeli authorities held the group.