Who is Brad Lander? New York Congressional candidate detained by Israeli military while participating in an olive harvest in occupied West Bank

Democratic politician Brad Lander on Wednesday said the Israeli military detained him in the occupied West Bank while he was participating in an olive harvest. Lander said in an interview that he was later let off with a warning. The Democrat said that he was harvesting olives for Palestinians in the occupied region along with over 40 volunteers, including Americans and Israelis.

What did Brad Lander say?

Lander said Israeli authorities told him his actions were illegal and that the group he was working with had been disturbing public order. "But I assure you, all we were doing was harvesting olives," he said. "So if by ‘disturbance of public order’ they mean the order of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, I guess maybe, but we were very peacefully harvesting olives."


Speaking to NBC News, Lander said he was probably released from detention due to his "public profile", revealing that Israeli officials repeatedly called him a "congressman."

He added: "If they don’t want a diplomatic or international incident, they should stop state-sponsored ethnic cleansing. Releasing me is not going to change the facts of occupation."

Lander's career and past controversy

Brad Lander, a former New York City comptroller, is a Congressional candidate running in New York’s 10th District in the midterm elections, taking place on November 3. He is a former New York City mayoral candidate and an ally of mayor Zohran Mamdani.

His primary race against Rep. Dan Goldman was dominated by their views on Israel. Both the candidates are Jewish. Lander has been more critical of the Israeli government and its war in Gaza than his opponent, and has described Israel's actions as a "genocide."

Last year, Lander was detained along with dozens of others as they tried to inspect the living conditions at an immigrant detention facility in New York City. He was earlier this year found not guilty of charges stemming from that incident.

Israeli settler attacks in the region

The West Bank incident comes days after a series of Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and others working in the area. One of those attacks left the Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine injured and another was targeted at European diplomats. Israeli police said this week they had arrested 10 people suspected of carrying out the attacks.

According to a United Nations report in July, more than 900 Palestinians had been injured in attacks by Israeli settlers since the beginning of the year. The report added that nearly 80 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank had been killed by Israeli forces or settlers during the same period of time.