Israeli military detains US politician Brad Lander and rabbis at olive harvest

The Israeli military has detained about 80 US, Israeli and British volunteers helping Palestinians harvest olives near Bethlehem, including the New York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander, several rabbis and Israel’s former deputy attorney general.

“I’ve been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis and volunteers,” Lander posted from a bus taking him to a police station. “We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nahalin in the West Bank. The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.”

Lander, who is Jewish and an outspoken critic of the Israeli government, describes himself as a liberal Zionist. He believes in the vision of Israel as a safe, Jewish home, but argues that it cannot be a true democracy while it denies Palestinians their human rights and freedom.

An ally of the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, Lander’s critical approach to Israel was a key factor in his resounding primary victory against Dan Goldman, a prominent supporter of Israel.

He condemns Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, supported the restriction of US military aid to Israel and believes that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks amounts to genocide.

Settler militants have unleashed extreme violence on Palestinians attempting to harvest olives from their trees across the occupied West Bank, and anyone accompanying them.

A vicious assault on a US photojournalist and attacks on European diplomats and a French mayor over the weekend drew international condemnation and calls for the Israeli government to crack down on militants.

Wednesday’s olive-picking from trees outside the village of Nahalin was uneventful until a large contingent of Israeli security forces arrived, the organisers Protect the Harvest said in a statement.

“All volunteers were peacefully harvesting on the private land of a Palestinian family who had invited them. For reasons that remain unclear, the Israeli army showed up and detained approximately 80 people who were present.”

Soldiers said the area had been declared a closed military zone, separated the group by nationality and drove them to a nearby police station in minibuses for the Israelis and a larger bus for Americans.

Joshua Schoffman, who served as Israel’s deputy attorney general for more than a decade, described the mass detention as a “complete hallucination” in a post on social media.

“Just now, they told me that I’m being detained for the crime of olive harvesting,” he wrote. “We were asked to stop, and everyone complied. There was no friction whatsoever with settlers or with the security forces.”

Lander was released with a warning but all the others were still being held, Protect the Harvest said. Detainees include Jill Jacobs, the chief executive of T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and 11 other American rabbis affiliated with the group.

The detainees have been given water but no food. The Israeli military and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.