Candidate detained during olive harvest

Brad Lander, running for Congress in New York's tenth District, was detained by Israeli Defense Forces soldiers while harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

Who was harvesting olives

Lander was part of a group of more than forty international volunteers, including Americans, and twenty eight Israelis affiliated with human rights groups harvesting olives for Palestinians.

IDF's stated reason for detention

Israeli authorities told Lander his actions were illegal and the group had been causing a disturbance of public order. The IDF said uncoordinated harvesting near an Israeli community posed a security risk.

Lander's response to authorities

Lander said the group was peacefully harvesting olives and questioned what Israeli authorities meant by disturbance of public order, suggesting they meant the order of Israeli occupation.

“But I assure you, all we were doing was harvesting olives.”

Most detainees released

Beck Strober, spokesperson for Protect the Harvest, told NBC News that all but four of those detained have been released. Israeli members face a twenty eight day ban from the West Bank.

Lander released due to profile

Lander told NBC News he was apparently released because of his public profile, noting Israeli authorities kept calling him congressman. He said he tried to explain he was only a primary winner.

Lander's stance on Israel

Lander's primary race against Rep. Dan Goldman was dominated by their views on Israel. Lander has been more critical of Israel's government and the war in Gaza, which he has called a genocide.

Why the grove hadn't been harvested

The olive grove had not been harvested since Hamas' October seventh, twenty twenty three attacks. Palestinian farmers had not felt safe to harvest because of the grove's proximity to a nearby Israeli settlement.

Recent settler violence context

Last week brought high-profile Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and others, including one injuring Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine and another targeting European diplomats.

Scale of settler violence

More than nine hundred Palestinians had been injured in settler attacks since the start of the year, according to a United Nations report from July. Seventy six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces or settlers.

How the detention unfolded

After about two hours of harvesting, the group spotted what Lander believed was a security car from an Israeli settlement. IDF soldiers and police arrived, asked for passports, and loaded the harvesters onto a bus.

T'ruah's condemnation

The CEO of T'ruah, a Jewish human rights group, and eleven other U.S. rabbis affiliated with it were among those detained. T'ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs called the IDF's actions an outrageous abuse of power.

“an outrageous abuse of power, and part of a systematic, state-backed campaign of ethnic cleansing”

Lander's prior detention

Last year, Lander was detained with more than seventy other people, including about a dozen elected officials, while inspecting an immigrant detention facility in New York City. He was found not guilty this year.