Brad Lander, the Democratic congressional candidate and ally of New York City Mayor, Zahra Mammadani, was arrested on Wednesday while volunteering to help with the olive harvest near a Palestinian village in the West Bank. This action took place among 90 other volunteers participating in this activity and sparked significant international reactions.
Details of the Arrest and Reactions
According to information obtained, Lander and other volunteers were harvesting olives from trees near the village of Nahalin when Israeli military and police forces arrived at the location and arrested them. The organization "Rabbis for Human Rights" stated in a statement that Israeli forces told the volunteers that the area they were in was a closed military zone, a fact that, according to this organization, the volunteers could not have known.
Lander, who is himself a Jewish American and a candidate for New York's 10th district in the November 3 midterm elections, wrote in a post on the social media platform X (Twitter) that he and his companions were simply harvesting olives and that this action does not violate any laws. He stated: "Occupation is a crime under international law, and harvesting olives is not a crime."
Status of the Detainees and Criticisms
Jill Jacobs, president of the American organization "TROA," who was also among the detainees, told the media that their group voluntarily decided to leave the area, but instead, they were transferred by Israeli forces to two buses and taken to a police station. She added: "We were clearly not engaging in any violent actions, but it seemed that simply harvesting olives with Palestinian farmers caused some disturbance."
In total, 33 American citizens and several British and Canadian citizens were among the detainees. According to Jacobs, the status of the detainees is unclear, and no formal charges have yet been filed against them by the police.
This event has not only attracted media attention but has also been heavily criticized by the international community. The arrest of Lander and his colleagues occurred amid heightened tensions in the region and increasing criticisms of Israel's policies towards Palestinians. Currently, there has been no immediate response from the Israeli police, military, or the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem regarding these arrests.
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