Lander says Israeli military released him after brief West Bank detention

Other participants remain detained, Lander says

New York Democrat Brad Lander, who is running for Congress, said the Israeli military briefly detained him in a grove near Nehalim while he and a group of rabbis and volunteers were harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank. Lander said the military later released him with a warning because of his public profile. Several other participants harvesting olives remained detained, and he called for their release.

On Wednesday, Lander posted a photograph to social media showing himself in the back of a filled bus, with two men in military garb visible in the background near the front. Lander wrote: “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.” He used “IDF” to refer to the military, Israel Defense Forces.

Lander added: “The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.”

Lander arrived in the West Bank this past weekend to take part in an effort that brings volunteers to accompany Palestinian farmers during the harvest. In a video about the trip, he said: “Palestinians are here everyday harvesting their olives, trying to protect and save their land, not be pushed off it.” He added: “There are Israelis and American Jews and people from all around the world trying to provide a protective presence as part of this broader effort.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Consul General of Israel in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The report said attacks in the West Bank had surged in recent years, coinciding with an expansion of Israeli settlements across the occupied territory. It also said Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had faced criticism for failing to stem the violence, which Netanyahu described as “the work of a small group of juvenile delinquents.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that masked Israeli settlers attacked a group of European diplomats on Saturday. The attack followed a separate Friday incident in which The Washington Post reported that masked settlers attacked Palestinians and severely beat a photographer working for the newspaper.

Some Israelis blamed the escalation on Palestinians who, they said, violently confronted settlers by throwing stones and sometimes shooting or stabbing them. Palestinians and their supporters countered that settlers instigated far more incidents and noted that settlers live under Israeli civilian law and are under military protection.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 2,060 settler attacks caused Palestinian casualties or property damage in 2026 through Oct. 12. The report also said Palestinians had attacked settlers, including in shootings, stabbings and vehicle attacks. The U.N. office did not publish a directly comparable running incident total; by late July, it had recorded 20 settlers injured by Palestinians in the West Bank.

Several U.S. elected officials have traveled to the Israeli-occupied West Bank to document conditions there. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, was detained by armed settlers and then Israeli soldiers during a July trip. Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon traveled to the region last year.