Protect the Harvest steering committee reports two detention sites

Lander says 40 of about 60 volunteers were foreign nationals, mostly Americans

The Protect the Harvest steering committee said international volunteers were being held at the Etzion military base in the West Bank, while Israeli detainees were being held at the Beitar Illit police station in Israel. Brad Lander said the Israeli military detained him for about three hours on Wednesday near Nehalim in the West Bank and then released him. He said other rabbis and volunteers remained detained after his release.

Lander, a Jewish former New York City comptroller running for Congress in New York’s 10th Congressional District, was in Israel with Protect the Harvest. The trip was organized in part by Israelis for Peace and Rabbis for Human Rights. Lander said the group included about 60 volunteers, among them 40 foreign nationals who were mostly Americans.

In a post on X, 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 shared a photograph of himself on a bus with the other detainees.

Lander also wrote: “The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.” He later posted that he had been released because he was a public official, while others remained detained.

In a phone interview with The New York Times from Beit Jala in the West Bank, Lander said he had been detained for about three hours and then released. He said he was told that his actions were illegal and wrong and that the group had created a public disturbance and gone where it was not supposed to go.

“I was eventually released and I was told I was being given a warning, that my actions were illegal and wrong, and that we had created a public disturbance and gone where we weren’t supposed to go,” Lander said.

Lander said he protested his release. “I hadn’t done anything different from anyone else, and I certainly didn’t deserve any special treatment,” he said.

Lander said the rabbis and other volunteers were still detained. “The rabbis and others are still there in detention, and we don’t know — obviously they’re under threat of deportation, and all we were doing was harvesting olives,” he said.

Lander said the group had harvested olives in another area of the West Bank without incident on Monday and Tuesday.

UPI reported that violence in the West Bank had surged recently, including violence against Palestinians and attacks on international diplomats and journalists. UPI also reported that Israeli police arrested 10 people on Monday who were accused of attacking two groups of people in the olive harvest.