Israeli security forces detain Brad Lander and about 80 activists in West Bank

Lawyers called the mass detention largest in at least a decade

Israeli security forces detained about 80 American and Israeli rabbis and activists on Wednesday after they joined Palestinian families at an olive grove near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit in the occupied West Bank. U.S. Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander was among those detained, NPR reported.

The group included American rabbis from T’ruah, the Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights and other activists. They joined the Palestinian farmers hoping their presence would help them harvest in peace. Olive harvesting is important to Palestinians both culturally and economically, NPR reported.

Two Israeli lawyers who work on cases involving detained activists told NPR that this was the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade. Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a longtime Israeli human rights proponent, called the detentions “unprecedented.”

After roughly two hours, drones began circling overhead. Israeli security forces then arrived and declared the area a closed military zone. They detained the American and Israeli activists and took them to a police station for questioning; the military had also said the area was a closed military zone.

It was not clear what Israeli authorities accused the group of. The Israeli military and police did not immediately comment, and NPR described the report as a developing story that it would update.

Lander said in a video he filmed from the bus carrying the group to the police station, “We’ve been detained by the Israeli military for harvesting olives, and let’s be clear: Occupation is a crime under international law,” and “Harvesting olives is not a crime under any law.”

Several Palestinians told NPR they had been unable to harvest their olive trees since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. They said it had become too dangerous because of rising settler attacks in the occupied West Bank.

The detentions came less than a week after American photojournalist Heidi Levine, who works for The Washington Post, was assaulted by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. NPR described Levine’s assault as the latest attack on a journalist during the Palestinian olive-harvest season.

Democratic congressman Ro Khanna of California was also briefly detained by Israeli forces during a trip to the West Bank in July, NPR reported.

MSI previously reported that Israeli police had arrested 10 settlers accused of attacking Palestinian olive pickers and journalists, while earlier coverage documented settler attacks on olive harvesters and the beating of Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine. Wednesday’s detentions extended that sequence with an Israeli security-force mass detention during the same olive harvest.