Congressional candidate Brad Lander speaks to supporters during a rally in Brooklyn on June 18, 2026. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Israeli authorities have detained a group of activists, including a Democratic U.S. congressional candidate, in the contested West Bank.
Dan Lander, who is running to represent New York’s 10th Congressional District, was in the West Bank on Oct. 21 along with activists from the group Rabbis for Human Rights when they were detained. Their visit comes amid recent violent altercations between Palestinian groups and Israeli settlers.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed that their personnel had helped detain a group of activists near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit on Oct. 21. The Israeli military stated that the group, which was out to participate in the local olive harvest, had failed to coordinate their arrival with security forces beforehand.
“Due to the security risk posed by conducting an uncoordinated harvest near an Israeli community, IDF soldiers, Border Police forces in Judea and Samaria, and officers from the Judea and Samaria District Police arrived at the scene and detained those present,” the IDF stated.
In a post on X, Lander said Israeli authorities have since released him from custody with a warning but are still holding several activists from his group.
The West Bank’s olive harvest has become the recurring scene of violent altercations between Palestinians and Israeli settlers over the years.
Heidi Levine, a Jewish American photojournalist, was assaulted while covering the Palestinian olive harvest in the West Bank earlier this month. Violent attacks were also reported against several European diplomats and dignitaries touring the West Bank.
Israeli authorities have arrested several suspects in connection with the recent attacks on Levine and the European diplomats. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee subsequently called for Israeli authorities to prosecute these suspects for what he described as a “despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards.”
Huckabee has expressed condemnation for other recent incidents in which Israeli settlers were accused of targeting Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
“The Palestinians, whose land this is, have a right to harvest it in peace, and that’s why we’re out here today,” Lander said in a video statement he recorded with Rabbis for Human Rights before his arrest.
The IDF stated that it informed the landowner whose property Lander and his fellow activists were seeking to reach that he would have to coordinate with authorities to reschedule outside help for his harvest.
“It should be emphasized that authorized olive harvests have taken place and continue to take place,” the IDF stated. “To date, approximately 100 coordinated harvests have been conducted across Judea and Samaria, yielding many dozens of tons of produce, with security provided and coordination by the security forces, without any unusual incidents.”
Lander, who is Jewish, has been openly critical of the Israeli government’s stance toward the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
He has described Israeli settler violence in the West Bank as a state-backed behavior. While the Israeli government launched its military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, Lander has referred to the Israeli military operation as a genocide.
Lander beat incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic Party primary earlier this year and faces Republican candidate Jennifer Moore in the 2026 general election.
