Democrat Brad Lander, a U.S. House nominee from New York City, was detained, along with dozens of rabbis and activists, by the Israel Defense Forces during an olive harvesting trip in the West Bank on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Lander, who was participating in an initiative to protect Palestinian olive growers from settler violence, posted about the detention on X<\/a>, noting that the group was \u201csimply harvesting olives\u201d near the Palestinian village of Nahalin, just outside of Bethlehem in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.<\/p>\n A few hours later, he updated<\/a> that he was \u201creleased from IDF custody with a \u2018warning.\u2019\u201d Lander, a former New York City comptroller, attributed his release to his public profile \u2013 stressing, however, that he is \u201cjust a nominee\u201d and not a current member of Congress.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The IDF Spokesperson\u2019s Unit confirmed that Israeli military and police forces arrived at the scene and detained the participants, saying that \u201charvesting in that area requires prior coordination<\/a> with the relevant authorities\u201d in order to maintain security in the area.<\/p>\n While Lander was released relatively quickly, he noted that several dozen people who had been harvesting olives with him remained in detention and called for their immediate release.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians\u2019 right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes,\u201d Lander added, describing these actions as \u201cvery clearly state-sponsored ethnic cleansing.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier on Wednesday, his second day participating in the harvest, Lander posted an interview with an activist, who detailed stories<\/a> of a mother and two children who were attacked by settlers earlier this year. He said that \u201cThese are the kinds of assaults that Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n Lander first posted about his trip<\/a> on Monday, explaining that he was joining the \u201cProtect the Harvest\u201d coalition, organized by Israelis for Peace and Unarmed Civilian Protection in Palestine. The goals of the initiative, he said, are both to protect the harvesters and to \u201cshed a light on the reality of the occupation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He also stressed the importance of providing a sustained, international \u201ccommitment to protecting Palestinian communities from settler violence, forced displacement, and the ongoing threats to their right to remain on their land.\u201d<\/p>\n After Monday\u2019s harvest, Lander said that the efforts that day were \u201cpeaceful and successful,\u201d while noting that \u201cviolence unfortunately is never far away.\u201d<\/p>\n New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who endorsed Lander in the U.S. House race, said that while he\u2019s \u201cthankful that Brad has been released,\u201d there are other New Yorkers who remain<\/a> in detention.<\/p>\n \u201cHarvesting olives is not illegal. The occupation is,\u201d Mamdani said. In a remark about the impact of the last three years of the Gaza war, he also accused the Israeli government of committing \u201ca horrific genocide against Palestinians, killing more than 74,000 people over the last few years alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Lander\u2019s visit to the West Bank occurred amid an increase in settler violence against Palestinians, including, in recent weeks, those trying to pick their olives. While some Israelis say the uptick is a response to stone-throwing and stabbing incidents, many Palestinians believe that settlers are inciting these confrontations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As of mid-October, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that nearly 200 settler attacks<\/a> related to the olive harvest had resulted in casualties or property damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Israeli organization Rabbis for Human Rights reported that 90 members of its group, together with American activists, were detained with Lander on Wednesday morning. The volunteers, the group said in a statement, had spent about two hours harvesting when \u201clarge forces of the Israeli army, police and Border Police arrived and presented a closed military zone order valid for 24 hours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Although representatives of the volunteers said the group had agreed to leave the area, the IDF still detained the participants, demanded identification and took them to a police station, separating foreign nationals from Israelis, according to the organization.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came to accompany farmers to land they have not been able to reach in three years,\u201d Anton Goodman, acting executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, said in a statement. \u201cInstead of protecting people working their own land, the army is removing them from it, and detaining those who came to stand beside them.\u201d<\/p>\n Anna Kislanski, executive director of the Israel Movement for Progressive and Reform Judaism, condemned the detentions, stressing in a statement that the volunteers simply \u201csought to provide assistance and express solidarity with Palestinian communities that are attacked on a daily basis by Jewish extremists.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is inconceivable that, instead of arresting and prosecuting the Jewish extremists who engage in theft and violence, security forces are arresting rabbi activists who are acting in accordance with Jewish values of love for humanity and the pursuit of justice,\u201d Kislanski added, calling for their immediate release.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of the New York City-based movement T\u2019ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, reported on Wednesday that she and 11 other T\u2019ruah-affiliated American rabbis were among those detained.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRather 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,\u201d Jacobs said, describing this action as \u201can outrageous abuse of power, and part of a systematic, state-backed campaign of ethnic cleansing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Israeli government is actively advancing the forced displacement of Palestinian communities across the West Bank,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe will not be intimidated into silence. We will continue standing alongside Palestinian farmers and communities fighting to remain on their land.\u201d<\/p>\n Gilad Kariv \u2013 a Knesset member running for reelection with the Democrats, a liberal Zionist opposition party \u2013 slammed the military\u2019s actions, calling upon the government to \u201cstop this madness<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n A failure to do so, Kariv argued, could \u201ccreate enormous damage to relations with the Jews of the United States, and justifiably so.\u201d<\/p>\n