US congressional candidate Brad Lander freed after West Bank detention

Lander says dozens remain in Israeli custody after being detained while helping Palestinian farmers harvest olives.

Democratic candidate Brad Lander (C) speaks during a vigil led by Israelis for Peace, anti-occupation activists, to commemorate the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks in New York, New York, USA, October 7 2026 [FILE: SARAH YENESEL/EPA]

United States Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander says he has been released from Israeli military custody with a warning after being detained alongside dozens of volunteers helping Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

But several dozen others, including rabbis and international volunteers, remain in detention, according to Lander, who called for them to be released immediately.

list 1 of 3 How Israel’s 2026 election works

list 2 of 3 Far from fringe: How Israel’s mainstream parties vote with the far right

list 3 of 3 From one house to villages: Israeli settlers have Palestinians surrounded

“I’ve been released from IDF custody with a ‘warning,’ apparently because of my public profile,” Lander wrote on X. “I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee.”

Lander, a Jewish American and former New York City comptroller, was among approximately 80 volunteers detained by Israeli soldiers and police near the village of Nahalin, outside Bethlehem, according to the Israeli organisation Rabbis for Human Rights.

The group included American, Israeli, Palestinian, British and Canadian volunteers.

Beck Strober, a representative of the Protect the Harvest Coalition, which helped organize the olive harvest, told Al Jazeera that the group had been peacefully picking olives at the invitation of a Palestinian family for several hours when the Israeli army arrived.

“It was a nice, peaceful day,” he said. “There was no conflict. There was no settler violence. There was no violence of any kind.”

According to Strober, after a while, soldiers began checking the volunteers’ IDs, and soon after, issued an order declaring the area a closed military zone. They then detained the group, first in the field and later at a police station.

“To this moment, everyone’s still detained except for Brad Lander,” said Strober. “They very clearly told him that they allowed him to be released because he’s likely to be in Congress very soon.”

Anton Goodman, acting director for Rabbis for Human Rights, told Reuters that volunteers who were neither Israeli nor Palestinian citizens were expected to be transferred to an Israeli military base.

In a video posted on X from one of the buses, Lander said Israeli forces had detained the group after apparently being called to the area by settlement security personnel.

“We’ve been detained by the Israeli military for harvesting olives,” he said. “And let’s be clear, occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives is not a crime under any law.”

It’s not clear why the area was declared a closed military zone. Rabbis for Human Rights said they had no way of knowing about the order and had offered to leave voluntarily when they were told.

Lander said the volunteers had been taken away for processing but had not been told whether they were under arrest.

Lander, a vocal critic of Israel’s war on Gaza, is a former New York City mayoral candidate and an ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He’s now running as the Democratic nominee for New York’s 10th congressional district in the November 3 midterm elections.

Writing on X after his release, Lander said Palestinians face worse consequences every day.

“These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians’ right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes,” he wrote. “Yet one more element of escalating, and very clearly state-sponsored, ethnic cleansing.

Neither the Israeli government nor the US Embassy in Jerusalem immediately responded to a request for comment.

The volunteers had travelled to the West Bank to support Palestinian farmers during the annual olive harvest, amid a surge in settler violence, including several attacks in recent days targeting Palestinians and international observers.

Stober said Wednesday was the first time the Palestinian family had been able to access its own land since October 7, 2023 because violence in the area had made it too dangerous to return.

“The fact that Brad was thee, of course, made the situation more newsworthy, but we’ve been seeing this happen in the West Bank for years.”

On Friday, an American photojournalist working for The Washington Post was beaten by Israeli settlers while covering the olive harvest. The following day, European diplomats and a French mayor were attacked by settlers during another harvest. Palestinians were also attacked in both incidents.

Israeli police said on Tuesday they had arrested 10 people in connection with the attacks.

兰德表示，数十人在帮助巴勒斯坦农民采摘橄榄时被拘留，目前仍被以色列当局拘留。

2026年10月7日，美国纽约，民主党候选人布拉德·兰德（中）在由反占领活动人士“以色列和平组织”领导的守夜活动上发表讲话，纪念10月7日袭击事件三周年。[图片来源：SARAH YENESEL/EPA]

美国民主党国会候选人布拉德·兰德表示，他周三与数十名志愿者一起在被占领的西岸帮助巴勒斯坦农民采摘橄榄后，被以色列军方拘留，并受到警告后获释。

但据兰德称，还有数十人，包括拉比和国际志愿者，仍被拘留，他呼吁立即释放他们。

列表 1/3：以色列 2026 年大选运作方式

列表 2/3 远非边缘：以色列主流政党如何与极右翼政党一起投票

列表 3/3 从一栋房子到村庄：以色列定居者包围巴勒斯坦人

“我被以色列国防军释放，但受到了‘警告’，显然是因为我的公众知名度，”兰德在X上写道。“我告诉他们，我甚至还不是国会议员，只是个提名人。”

据以色列人权组织“拉比争取人权”称，兰德是一位犹太裔美国人，曾任纽约市审计长，他是大约 80 名在伯利恒郊外纳哈林村附近被以色列士兵和警察拘留的志愿者之一。

该团队成员包括美国、以色列、巴勒斯坦、英国和加拿大的志愿者。

保护丰收联盟的代表贝克·斯特罗伯告诉半岛电视台，该联盟曾应一个巴勒斯坦家庭的邀请，和平地采摘橄榄几个小时，这时以色列军队出现了。

“那天天气晴朗，风和日丽，”他说。“没有冲突，没有殖民者的暴力行为，没有任何形式的暴力事件。”

据斯特罗伯称，过了一会儿，士兵们开始检查志愿者的身份证件，随后不久便下令将该区域划为封闭军事区。他们先是在现场拘留了这群人，后来又将他们带到警察局。

斯特罗伯说：“直到现在，除了布拉德·兰德之外，所有人都还被拘留着。他们非常明确地告诉他，之所以允许他获释，是因为他很可能很快就会进入国会。”

人权拉比组织代理主任安东·古德曼告诉路透社，既非以色列公民也非巴勒斯坦公民的志愿者预计将被转移到以色列军事基地。

兰德在一段从其中一辆巴士上传到 X 的视频中表示，以色列军队显然是应定居点安全人员的召唤来到该地区后，拘留了这群人。

他说：“我们因为采摘橄榄而被以色列军方拘留。而且必须明确一点，占领是国际法上的犯罪行为。采摘橄榄在任何法律上都不构成犯罪。”

目前尚不清楚该地区为何被划为封闭军事区。人权拉比组织表示，他们对此命令毫不知情，并在被告知后主动提出自愿离开。

兰德表示，这些志愿者已被带走进行处理，但尚未被告知他们是否被逮捕。

兰德曾公开批评以色列对加沙的战争，他曾是纽约市市长候选人，也是现任市长佐兰·马姆达尼的盟友。他现在正作为民主党候选人参加11月3日举行的纽约州第十国会选区中期选举。

兰德获释后在 X 上撰文称，巴勒斯坦人每天都面临着更糟糕的后果。

他写道：“以色列国防军的这些拘留行动，是又一次试图破坏巴勒斯坦人收割橄榄树、在自己的道路上通行以及居住在自己家中的权利。这又是不断升级的、而且显然是由国家支持的种族清洗的又一例证。”

以色列政府和美国驻耶路撒冷大使馆均未立即回应置评请求。

在定居者暴力事件激增之际，包括最近几天针对巴勒斯坦人和国际观察员的多起袭击事件，这些志愿者前往西岸支持巴勒斯坦农民进行一年一度的橄榄采摘。

斯托伯周三表示，这是自 2023 年 10 月 7 日以来，这个巴勒斯坦家庭第一次能够回到自己的土地上，因为该地区的暴力事件使得返回家园变得太危险。

“当然，布拉德是当事人这一事实让这件事更具新闻价值，但多年来我们在西岸已经看到这种情况发生了。”

周五，一名为《华盛顿邮报》工作的美国摄影记者在报道橄榄采摘时遭到以色列定居者殴打。第二天，欧洲外交官和一名法国市长在另一场橄榄采摘活动中遭到定居者袭击。在这两起事件中，巴勒斯坦人也遭到袭击。

以色列警方周二表示，他们已逮捕了10名与袭击事件有关的人员。