IDF Detains Rabbis for Human Rights Volunteers and US Congressional Nominee in West Bank

We were simply harvesting olives in grove near Nahalin in the West Bank. The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know, Brad Lander wrote on X after being detained by the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday, October 21, 2026. The Democratic congressional nominee for New York’s 10th District was among roughly 90 volunteers with Rabbis for Human Rights rounded up by the military while accompanying Palestinian farmers during the annual autumn harvest. The coalition included around 80 to 90 volunteers overall, featuring Israelis, Palestinians, British, and Canadians, with over 30 US citizens among those detained.

Israeli police stated that one of the foreign nationals was released once it became known he was a congressional candidate, and sources added that no one was harmed in the incident.

@bradlander detailed by Israeli police for standing with Palestinians during the olive harvest. pic.twitter.com/G5MD4T2bTO

— https://x.com/rabbis4HR/status/2112852961600721258

The Olive Grove Near Nahalin

According to The Jerusalem Post, the coalition included prominent figures such as former deputy attorney-general Yehoshua Schoffman and T’ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs. Volunteers stated they had been peacefully picking fruit for roughly two hours in groves that local farmers had reportedly been unable to access for three years since October 7. Rabbi Jill Jacobs described that they were obviously not doing anything violent but just the very act of picking olives together with Palestinian farmers and added, If you would have come to our harvest earlier today, you would have found a place that was quiet and peaceful and respectful and definitely not harming any of the public order.

Anton Goodman, acting executive director of the group, noted that instead of protecting people working their land, the army is keeping them away from it and detaining those who came to accompany them for identification. Goodman also stated, We came to accompany farmers to land they have not been able to reach in three years, and after two hours of quiet harvesting large forces arrived and closed the area, adding that Instead of protecting people working their own land, the army is removing them from it, and detaining those who came to stand beside them.

Conflicting Claims Over Coordination Rules

The IDF defended the sweep by asserting that the activists had failed to submit the requisite advance requests for agricultural access, stating that harvesting in that area required prior coordination which had not happened. The IDF’s Arabic Spokesperson’s unit stated that it would not allow civil activities to be exploited for disturbances during a sensitive agricultural season, emphasizing that the olive harvest season is an agricultural activity and must not be transformed into a period of violence and conflict.

Activists insisted they fully complied with the snap military orders to vacate the area, yet they were still detained, separated by nationality—with foreign nationals separated from Israeli volunteers—while authorities photographed passports and identification cards, and bused them to the Etzion Regional Brigade headquarters for questioning and police processing.

Photo: The Times of Israel

Jewish Organizations and Diplomats React to Detentions

The operation triggered immediate backlash across international and diaspora Jewish organizations. Democratic MK and Rabbi Gilad Kariv lambasted the move on X, urging leadership from the Jewish Agency, U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem regarding the detentions.

The timing of the detentions compounds broader regional tensions, following a series of violent clashes surrounding the harvest. Just days prior, Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was injured during an assault by settlers in the nearby village of Abu Falah and received treatment at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel, prompting a condemnation of criminal violence and an offer of consular assistance from the U.S. State Department. As the November 3 midterm elections approach in the United States, Lander’s involvement throws domestic American politics directly into the complex reality of West Bank access restrictions.