Israeli forces detain Mamdani ally Brad Lander at West Bank olive harvest but free him because he is a candidate
Brad Lander, the NY-10 congressional nominee, whose group says it could not have known the area near Nahalin had been declared a closed military zone.
About 80 US, Israeli and British volunteers, including rabbis and Israel's former deputy attorney general, were held near Nahalin, close to Bethlehem. Brad Lander says he was released after roughly three hours with a warning that his actions were 'illegal and wrong'. He protested his own release, saying he 'didn't deserve any special treatment'. Dozens of others remain in custody.
The Israeli military said the 'uncoordinated harvest' near an Israeli community posed a security risk.
Israel's Foreign Ministry mocked Lander for 'harvesting headlines'.
Lander posted: 'Harvesting olives isn't a crime under any law I know.'
