{"id":690353,"date":"2026-10-21T17:30:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T17:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=690353"},"modified":"2026-10-21T17:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T17:30:49","slug":"congressional-hopefuls-olive-picking-trip-to-west-bank-ends-in-detention-by-israeli-troops-he-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=690353","title":{"rendered":"Congressional hopeful\u2019s olive-picking trip to West Bank ends in detention by Israeli troops, he says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

A progressive congressional candidate claims he was detained by Israeli forces while trying to harvest olives in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

House candidate Brad Lander, who is backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, posted about the detention on X. He included a photo, which appears to show uniformed military members boarding a bus full of \u201crabbis & volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look:<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019ve been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis &amp; volunteers. We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn\u2019t a crime under any law I know. https:\/\/t.co\/r7B5Q3RvjY<\/p>\n

\u2014 Brad Lander (@bradlander) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis & volunteers. We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim in the West Bank. The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn\u2019t a crime under any law I know,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The group was later released, which he also made a post about.<\/p>\n

Watch:<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019ve been released from IDF custody with a \u201cwarning,\u201d apparently because of my public profile (I told them I wasn\u2019t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee).<\/p>\n

But several dozen rabbis & participants harvesting olives with me are still in detention. For harvesting olives. They should all be released immediately.<\/p>\n

To be clear: Palestinians face far worse consequences every day. These detentions by the IDF are one more attempt to undermine Palestinians\u2019 right to harvest their olive groves, travel on their roads, and live in their homes. Yet one more element of escalating, and very clearly state-sponsored ethnic cleansing.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll update on their status as soon as we hear.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Brad Lander (@bradlander) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The IDF also released a statement explaining the detention, claiming the \u201cuncoordinated harvest\u201d posed a \u201csecurity risk\u201d due to the fact that it was seemingly done without a necessary request.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier today, a number of harvesters, accompanied by dozens of individuals, arrived to conduct an uncoordinated olive harvest in an area near Beitar Illit. Harvesting in this area requires a request to be submitted to the relevant authorities in advance of the start of the olive harvest season. This coordination is necessary to ensure the security of the area and maintain public order,\u201d the statement read. \u201cDue 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

While these would usually be the kind of posts that progressive leftists would flock to as an excuse to bash Israel, it appears that the comments went in a completely different direction. Many of them accused Lander of being a \u201cZionist\u201d and engaging in performative stunts for attention.<\/p>\n

Look:<\/p>\n

\n

More theatrics from Brad Pander.<\/p>\n

In a 2017 feature titled \u201cPlease Don\u2019t Arrest Me Until the Cameras Are Here,\u201d The Wall Street Journal detailed how Brad Lander regularly engages in choreographed, non-confrontational arrests to build political profiles and highlight causes.\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/y6509CN29f<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Reza Chowdhury (@RezaC1) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

@bradlander @rabbis4HR @israelispeaceny @ucpinpalestine You\u2019ll never wash the blood of the 1000s of Palestinians you have on your hands @bradlander.<\/p>\n

They let you go so quickly because they know you\u2019re a proud Zionist who was happy to invest millions of $ from working class NY\u2019ers\u2019 pension funds into Israeli weapons manufacturers.<\/p>\n

\u2014 MarketWatch Sucks Donkey Dong (@kay_enne) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Sure Brad. You don\u2019t do anything that isn\u2019t a publicity stunt.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jeff (@Jeff_mortensen) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

As someone living in your district, this seems like a waste of time<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kyle Russell (@kylebrussell) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

You literally invested in Elbit Systems, the company that produces the bombs used to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza<\/p>\n

You condemn BDS as antisemitic<\/p>\n

Stop the grift<\/p>\n

\u2014 Propaganda & co (@propandco) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Detained and taking selfies .. such performative nonsense from a walking clown show<\/p>\n

\u2014 Michael A. Cohen (NOT TRUMP\u2019S FORMER FIXER) (@speechboy71) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A progressive congressional candidate claims he was detained by Israeli forces while trying to harvest olives in the West Bank. House candidate Brad Lander, who is backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, posted about the detention on X. He included a photo, which appears to show uniformed military members boarding a bus full… Continue reading Congressional hopeful\u2019s olive-picking trip to West Bank ends in detention by Israeli troops, he says<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-690353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=690353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690353\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=690353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=690353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=690353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}