Left-wing congressional candidate Brad Lander said Wednesday that he had been “detained” by the Israeli Defense Forces while taking part in an olive harvest in the West Bank.
Lander, the former New York City comptroller campaigning for Congress in the Nov. 3 election, shared a photo on X showing him looking sternly into the camera from a bus. Other passengers in the image appeared to be using their phones and seemed largely unbothered.
“I’ve been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis & volunteers,” Lander wrote. “We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim in the West Bank.”
It was not immediately clear whether Lander, who is seeking to represent New York’s 10th Congressional District, had been involved in any activity beyond gathering olives.
“The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know,” he added.
Lander, who is Jewish and has repeatedly criticized Israel, defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in the June primary after mounting a challenge from the party’s left flank.