U.S. congressional nominee Brad Lander and about 80 other volunteers were detained by Israeli security forces on October 21, 2026, while helping Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the occupied West Bank.
The morning operation unfolded in an olive grove near the Palestinian village of Nahalin, close to the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit. For roughly two hours, activists and rabbis from organizations including Rabbis for Human Rights and T’ruah worked alongside local families to pick olives from trees that farmers had been unable to safely reach for three years (Gothamist).
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.The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know. pic.twitter.com/r7B5Q3RvjY
The delegation included American and Israeli citizens, former high-ranking government officials, and political figures.
Israeli Forces Detain Olive Harvest Volunteers
Drones began circling overhead before a large contingent of Israeli military and police arrived to declare the area a closed military zone (NPR).
Volunteers said they immediately agreed to comply with orders to leave, but security forces nonetheless separated the group by nationality and transported them away in buses (The Guardian).
Lander, who won the Democratic primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District in June and faces the midterm election on November 3 (The Straits Times), posted updates from a transport bus while in custody (The Jerusalem Post).
I'm in the West Bank this week as part of the “Protect the Harvest” coalition along with @israelispeaceny, @ucpinpalestine & Protect the Harvest, which is bringing people together from around the world to help Palestinian farmers harvest olives in the face of state-sanctioned… pic.twitter.com/1uGKGl9ZEo
We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim in the West Bank. The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.
According to Anton Goodman, acting director of Rabbis for Human Rights, Lander was released shortly after being processed with a warning (The Jerusalem Post).
You’re on an air-conditioned deluxe bus with a bunch of fellow left wing nuts playing with their iPhones. You’re not fooling anyone with that “look at me I’m a victim” face. https://t.co/b8GrInGlBC
However, dozens of other participants remained held (Gothamist).
Foreign Nationals Interrogated at Israeli Military Base
While Israeli citizens among the group were held outside a police station in Beitar Illit as their detention was converted to formal arrests, foreign passport holders—including American, British, and Canadian nationals—were separated and taken to an Israeli military base for interrogation (The Forward).
I’ve been released from IDF custody with a “warning,” apparently because of my public profile (I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee).But several dozen rabbis & participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention. For harvesting olives. They… pic.twitter.com/BcSNkTYUxF
Among those held was Rabbi Jill Jacobs, chief executive of T’ruah, who described the atmosphere prior to the security forces’ arrival (The Straits Times).
We were obviously not doing anything violent but just the very act of picking olives together with Palestinian farmers was apparently disturbing for some.
Jacobs also condemned the enforcement dynamic during the agricultural season (The Forward).
Other notable figures caught in the sweep included Yehoshua Schoffman, Israel’s former deputy attorney-general (The Guardian).
Violence Surrounding West Bank Olive Harvest Peaks
The mass detentions occurred against confrontations across the West Bank during the seasonal olive harvest (The Forward).
International and local rights monitors have reported a surge in attacks by Israeli settlers targeting Palestinian groves, farmers, and foreign or domestic volunteers (The Straits Times).
Those incidents drew high-level diplomatic pressure just days prior to the Nahalin detentions (The Straits Times).
An American photojournalist working for The Washington Post was assaulted by settlers, and a delegation including European diplomats and a French mayor faced similar violence at another harvest site (The Straits Times).
Legal advocates tracking the region noted that Wednesday’s sweep marked the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade (NPR).
The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.