N.Y. congressional candidate Brad Lander detained by the Israeli military during West Bank trip
New York Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander was detained by the Israel Defense Forces while on a trip in the West Bank.
The former New York City comptroller posted on social media Wednesday, saying he was detained while "harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim."
Lander said on social media that he was eventually released with a warning because of his public profile.
"I was detained for a couple of hours and then released with a warning, but it's now about eight hours later and many of the others are still in detention and facing a risk of deportation," Lander said.
Lander spoke with CBS News New York after he was detained along with about 60 volunteers and rabbis from the Protect the Harvest Coalition who went to help guard Palestinian olive farmers who have been under attack for weeks by West Bank settlers.
"We were harvesting in a field between a Palestinian village and a big Israeli settlement. After a couple hours, a van, a security van from the settlement, sort of drove down and saw us, and they seem to have put in a phone call, and then shortly after that a bunch of IDF soldiers and Israeli police showed up," Lander said.
"People are still detained, including many of whom are rabbis. And we are figuring out what is the plan. There were rumors about deporting them," said Aziz Abu Sarah of Protect the Harvest.
Israel Defense Forces issued a statement defending its actions and insisted the group did not get permission to be there and posed a security risk.
"Harvesting in this area requires a request to be submitted to the relevant authorities in advance of the start of the olive harvest season. This coordination is necessary to ensure the security of the area and maintain public order," the IDF said in its statement.
"It's a bald-faced lie, and I saw it with my own eyes," Lander said. "This was a private field owned by a Palestinian farmer who invited us to come. You don't need a permit to harvest your own field and invite volunteers to join.
"This is part of an effort to ethnically cleanse them from their land by making it impossible to harvest their fields or drive on their roads or live in their homes," Lander added.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani denounced the move and told CBS News New York he appreciated Lander's moral clarity.
"The Israeli military found that as an offense worthy of detention. It begs a larger question of their conduct over the course of not just this week, not just this month, not just this year, but so many years prior to this. And it is unacceptable," Mamdani said. "And we should also be calling for the end to a genocide that that same military that has detained him has perpetrated against Palestinians over the last few years."
Lander arrived in the region over the weekend, according to his team. He said he plans to stay in the West Bank until Friday and will meet with Israelis and Palestinians. For right now, he's concerned about the other members of his group that haven't yet been released.
Lander has previously been critical of Israel's military action in Gaza and has called for an end to U.S. military aid.
"What I'm angry about as an American Jew and a human being is the violence that is being done to Palestinians, an effort to push them off their land and out of their homes," Lander said.
