Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander, the far-left former New York City Comptroller and close ally of radical Mayor Zohran Mamdani, was detained again by Israeli authorities on Wednesday.
Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 10th Congressional District, was detained on October 21 alongside dozens of international activists and rabbis while participating in an olive-harvesting mission with Palestinian farmers near the village of Nahalin, south of Bethlehem, NY Times reported.
The former New York City comptroller, who previously made headlines after being detained by federal immigration agents during a confrontation at a Manhattan immigration courthouse, was released several hours later with a warning.
Lander posted a selfie from a bus filled with others, writing: “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.”
He later claimed he was released “with a ‘warning,’ apparently because of my public profile (I told them I wasn’t even a congressmember yet, just a nominee).”
He added that others remained in custody and should be freed immediately, framing the action as part of “state-sponsored ethnic cleansing.”
