Israeli forces detain 80 volunteers in West Bank raid

What began as a day of olive harvesting alongside Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank ended with a US Democratic congressional candidate and scores of volunteers detained by Israeli forces, according to rights groups.

Israeli organisation Rabbis for Human Rights said about 80 volunteers — among them Brad Lander — were detained by Israeli military and police on village farmland near Bethlehem. The group had spent roughly two hours accompanying Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest, it said.

In a statement, Rabbis for Human Rights said Israeli forces told the volunteers they were inside a closed military zone, detained them and then transported them to a police station.

Mr Lander, a Jewish American and a former New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate, said on X that the military detained him along with rabbis and other 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’t a crime under any law I know,” he said.

I’ve 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’t a crime under any law I know. https://t.co/r7B5Q3RvjY

— Brad Lander (@bradlander) October 21, 2026

In the post, Mr Lander — an ally of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani who has criticised Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza — attached a photo of himself on a bus, showing what appeared to be a police officer and a masked soldier.

Mr Lander is the Democratic party’s nominee for New York’s 10th congressional district for the US House of Representatives in the 3 November midterm elections.

Anton Goodman, Acting Director of Rabbis for Human Rights, said Mr Lander was later released, while the rest of the group remained held at a police station in an Israeli settlement.

Olives are the backbone of Palestinian agriculture

Mr Goodman said those who are neither Israeli nor Palestinian citizens were expected to be transferred later to an Israeli military base.

T’ruah, a Jewish North American rights group, said the volunteers — including US and Israeli citizens — had joined local Palestinian farmers as an act of solidarity. The group said farmers face the threat of violence from Israeli settlers, and noted that Israelis and Palestinians were also among those detained.

Olives are the backbone of Palestinian agriculture, a sector that accounts for around 8% of GDP and more than 60,000 jobs, according to the Palestinian Authority’s ⁠agriculture ministry.

Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians surging

Rabbis for Human Rights said it was not immediately clear why the area had been designated a closed military zone. The group, it said, could not have known of the designation before arriving and offered to leave.

An Israeli military spokesperson had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. Israel Police and the US Embassy in Jerusalem did not immediately respond to emailed questions.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, T’ruah’s chief executive and one of those detained, said the volunteers — including 33 US citizens, along with UK and Canadian citizen — were “very peacefully” harvesting olives when Israeli forces arrived.

“We were obviously not doing anything violent but just the very act of picking olives together with Palestinian farmers was apparently disturbing for some,” Mr Jacobs, a 51 year-old conservative rabbi from Manhattan, said.

She said the group was taken to the police station on two separate buses. Some volunteers had been brought inside, while others — including Mr Jacobs — remained held on a bus outside the station.

To her knowledge, police had not filed formal accusations and the group had not been told why they were being detained or whether charges would follow, Mr Jacobs said.

The detentions come as Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians and other civilians in the West Bank surge, drawing renewed international attention. Over the weekend, US Secretary Marco Rubio called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to clamp down on the violence.

An American photojournalist for the Washington Post reporting on a Palestinian olive harvest on Friday was beaten by settlers. On Saturday, European diplomats and a French mayor were attacked at another Palestinian olive harvest by settlers, with Palestinians assaulted in both incidents.

Israeli police yesterday said it had made ten arrests linked to the weekend violence.