Congressional candidate Brad Lander detained by

Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York's 10th Congressional District, was detained by Israeli forces on Wednesday while harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank, then released after about three hours with a warning. Dozens of other volunteers, including a group of American rabbis, remained in custody for much longer, according to Lander and Israeli authorities.

Lander, a former New York City comptroller, was working in a grove near Nahalim with roughly 60 volunteers and rabbis from the Protect the Harvest Coalition. The group says it was there to help guard Palestinian farmers whose harvest has been disrupted for weeks by settler attacks. Lander arrived in the region over the weekend, and Wednesday was the third day of his trip. He told reporters the group had harvested in another area on Monday and Tuesday without any trouble. After soldiers detained the volunteers, Lander posted on X that harvesting olives isn't a crime under any law he knows of. He later said he was released with a warning, apparently because of his public profile, while the other participants were held for about nine hours.

The Israeli military said the farmers and volunteers had not asked for prior approval for the harvest and were detained because of the security risk of an uncoordinated harvest near an Israeli community. It added that it viewed the arrival of dozens of activists as an act meant only to provoke. Israeli police said Lander was released after it became known that he is a congressional candidate, and the Foreign Ministry called the episode a stunt, accusing him of seeking a confrontation. The ministry said he had ignored advice that coordination with Israeli authorities was required. Lander replied that the Israeli embassy in Washington had recommended coordination but had not said it was mandatory.

The detention drew reaction in New York and Washington. Mayor Zohran Mamdani criticized the Israeli government for detaining Lander and other New Yorkers, including rabbis, who accompanied the farmers, and a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said the embassy was aware of reports that American citizens had been held. Lander is not the first U.S. politician held in the West Bank this year. Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said he was detained during a visit in July. Reporting comes from the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC News and CBS New York.