Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee in New York’s 10th district, was detained on Wednesday for about three hours in the West Bank, harvesting olives with Palestinian farmers, rabbis and activists. He was released with a warning. It is detention plus release. It is not a conviction. It is not an electoral ban.

ABC7, citing Lander, writes that he arrived on Monday and harvested until Israeli forces came. He later said: “I was in detention for probably about three hours. This morning we harvested for probably two, two and a half hours before Israeli soldiers showed up, stopped us, put us on a bus.” He wrote that he left IDF custody with a “warning,” “apparently because of my public profile”; he told them he was not yet a congressman, only a nominee. Dozens of participants, he said, were still detained.

Israel Police: the harvest had not been coordinated with the military authorities, so it was not authorised; after the IDF reported that, those involved were taken to a station. Lander: “That’s just a lie. Coordination is not required. This was private Palestinian land. We didn’t cross a checkpoint. We didn’t go past a barrier. There were no soldiers at the beginning.” He added that, had they been told to leave, they would have left; they were told the area was now closed and that they were already in detention.

AP confirms the detention and the release hours later, with dozens of volunteers still held, including a group of rabbis. New York mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote that harvesting olives is not illegal. That is a comment. It is not a verdict.

Lander is there with the “Protect the Harvest” coalition, he said, for farmers and for “human rights, safety, equality and freedom for both Palestinians and Israelis.” The harvest is also a protest, in his reading, over the treatment of farmers. Wednesday’s warning does not close the file of those still detained. Nor does it take him off the NY-10 ballot.

Source consulted: Brad Lander freed after IDF detention in West Bank during olive harvest — ABC7 New York.

Image: New York City Hall, 1 September 2025, Nielsoncaetanosalmeron, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. City Hall, not Wednesday’s West Bank.

Sources consulted: Israeli forces detain and then release US congressional candidate at West Bank harvest — AP.