Israeli forces detained roughly 80 rabbis and activists, including Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander, for the offense of standing in an olive grove and helping Palestinian farmers pick olives. A military zone appeared, drones showed up, and a bus full of clergy was driven to a police station. Lander was let go after a couple of hours, which the Israeli military says happened "once the matter was brought to our attention."
A Very Dangerous Grove Of Olive Trees
Here is what happened, according to NPR. On Wednesday, American rabbis from the group T'ruah, Israeli rabbis from Rabbis for Human Rights, and other activists joined Palestinian families harvesting olives at their grove in Nahalin, near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit in the occupied West Bank. The campaign is called Protect the Harvest. The idea is simple: bring international volunteers to stand beside Palestinian farmers who keep getting attacked by settlers.
About two hours in, drones started circling overhead. Israeli security forces, military and police both, arrived and declared the area a closed military zone. Then they rounded up the activists, loaded them onto a bus, and took them to a police station for questioning.
A Palestinian family was detained too. Remember that part, because the whole operation was supposedly about protecting the people who actually own the trees.
Brad Lander Films His Own Arrest
Lander, the former New York City comptroller and current Democratic congressional nominee, filmed a video from the bus. "We've been detained by the Israeli military for harvesting olives, and let's be clear: Occupation is a crime under international law," he said. "Harvesting olives is not a crime under any law."
Later he posted that he'd been released from military custody, which he presumed was because of his "public profile." Several dozen others were still being held when NPR published.
That is the tell. The same detention, the same bus, the same police station. One guy walks out because he has a campaign and a following. The rest keep waiting. If your legal system has a celebrity exemption built into the arrest process, it isn't doing law.
The Paperwork Defense
The Israeli military's explanation deserves to be read slowly. A statement says harvesting in the area requires farmers to submit requests to the authorities before the olive season so the military can coordinate "security of the area and maintain public order." Palestinians in this area did not submit a request. So soldiers and police arrived and detained everyone present.
Picture the permit office for picking fruit off your own trees. Picture the form. Picture being told you are a threat to public order because you skipped the form, while the people allegedly threatening the public order are the settlers who have been beating farmers.
The military also told NPR that regarding the detention of a congressional candidate, he was released once the matter was brought to their attention. So the rule is strict until someone important is on the bus. Then it's a misunderstanding.
The Largest Mass Detention In A Decade
Two Israeli lawyers who work on related cases told NPR this is the largest mass detention of activists in the occupied West Bank in at least a decade. Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a longtime Israeli human rights advocate, called it "unprecedented." These are people who have watched a lot of this up close.
T'ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs put it bluntly: "Rather than protecting Palestinian farmers and ensuring their right to work their own land, the Israeli military forcibly removed those who came to provide a protective presence." She called it an outrageous abuse of power and part of a state-backed campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at driving Palestinians from their land. Israeli authorities have rejected that accusation.
You can argue about the label. You cannot argue about the pattern, which is the part the permit excuse conveniently skips.
Why Nobody Can Pick Their Own Olives
The olive harvest is a big deal for Palestinians, culturally and economically. It is also increasingly impossible. Several Palestinians told NPR they haven't been able to harvest their trees at all since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, because settler attacks have made it too dangerous.
This detention comes less than a week after Heidi Levine, an American photojournalist working for The Washington Post, was assaulted by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California was briefly detained by Israeli forces while visiting the West Bank in July.
So in the span of a few months, a sitting American congressman got held, an American photojournalist got beaten, and now a congressional nominee and dozens of rabbis got hauled off a farm. The farmers, meanwhile, still can't get to their trees.
The Dingo Take
Israeli officials say this was about coordination, public order, and a missed deadline for paperwork. The facts say something else. Armed forces and drones showed up to remove rabbis from a farm, a Palestinian family got swept into the arrests, and the one detainee with a famous name was released the moment someone noticed. A neutral permit rule does not behave like that. A rule that bends for your public profile is a leash.
And look at what the people on that bus were actually doing. They weren't storming anything. They were picking olives, beside the owners, in daylight, trying to keep the owners from getting beaten. If standing in a grove with a basket is enough to trigger a closed military zone, then the real function of the zone is to make sure nobody is watching when the settlers arrive.
Washington should be asking what American taxpayers are underwriting when American citizens, a congressman, and a Post photographer all keep running into the same wall in the same place. Instead we get silence and a paperwork excuse. The olives will rot on the branch. Somebody will call that security.
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